6/08/2006

The calendar has turned to June.

August and September Schedule:

9 times vs KC
7 times vs TB
7 times vs MIN

beat kansas city 7 times, tampa bay 5 times and minnesota 4 times gives the indians a 16-7 record. sounds nice, yes?

Wrong.

The royals OWN us this year. remember last year against the devil rays? that didnt turn out so well either did it?

Tampa Bay are not the push over they have been. Their farm system is stacked and with a little pitching could be a serious threat in their division.

They are fast (Carl Crawford, Joey Gathwright) and they can murder the ball (Jonny Gomes, Aubrey Huff, Jorge Cantu)

They're getting beaten by teams that are better than them and Cleveland; such as Anaheim who the Indians should have swept.

Tom Hamilton interviewed eric wedge the other day and the responses he got out of him strongly indicated wedge just might be more dumb than we had previously thought.

wedge has been known to "play the numbers"...

For instance, A typical left handed hitter doesnt see the ball the way he sees it against a right hander so scott sauerbeck, the only lefty reliever was called in to face said handed batter. the ball ended up in the seats, ballgame.

Wedges answer for this debacle: "I dont care if he is a righty, if he can get a lefty out, so be it"...WHERE was Betancourt then? the bullpens most reliable reliever!

The Detroit Tigers had been playing out of their minds since opening day. With an offense lead by Chris Shelton and stellar pitching that lead the majors in ERA, they were simply unbeatable.

One of their many victims along the way happened to be Cleveland.

Familar territory:
Detroit and Chicago play eachother 10 more times during the Tribes August/September schedule. We are 6-3 against chicago and see them again in september but had we beaten detroit we'd be in a better and more realistic position to be thinking of the lesser teams on our schedule.

The Indians didnt miss the playoffs because of how Boston or New york finished, or that the white sox swept 4 games from us, we missed the playoffs because of the teams we faced in those last 2 months that we just happen to play again this year.

Sept 25th vs Kansas city: Grady Sizemore loses a ball in the sun allowing the winning run to score.
Sept 27th vs Tampa Bay: A 3 game sweep.

The twins were the only non factor, but I dont believe we played them all that well either.

The Surge must start now:
we're a game better than we were this time last year so wedges simple mind probably sees this as a drastic improvement and that he actually knows what hes doing.

I hate the "what ifs" of the game but Matt lawton alone accounted for 100 runs scored and 20 hrs in 2004. we didnt resign him. Rhodes was lights out until a family emergency took him off the team permanently and wasnt given another chance...etc, etc, etc...thats all this front office has been consistent about...inconsistentcy.

dolan allows our marketing office to name a section of the stadium after the teams best hitter, Travis Hafner, which wasnt free I'm sure with the ad's and rights that go along with this sort of thing.

Those dollar bills could have been used in a trade or FA signing of a quality starter. they seem more interested in making a place for the casual fan to call their friends on their cellphone telling them "HEY DUDE IM STANDING IN PRONKVILLE !"

There is still a severe need for a RH power bat. Perez is 36.

We're the 2004 indians. jekyl and hyde offense + no pitching = 80-82.

I cant wait to hear what wedge says when this late surge doesnt happen. but what does he care, his job is the safest on the team.

Give me a 5th rotation guy, a setup/reliever who isnt going to throw batting practice, give me a consistent lead off hitter and a shortstop who actually knows what his role is, and maybe, just maybe this team can do it.

until then, theres always next year.