The Pigpen

The Tribe has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the second straight game with the absolute gut-wrencher this afternoon, despite the best efforts of C.C. and Victor. Throw in the obligatory loss from the Johnson start on Thursday, and the Tribe has dropped 3 straight to go 3 games below .500 and 9 ½ behind the Tigers in the Central.

I still don’t see the need to panic due to the amount of games that still remain in the season, but the Indians’ inability to put together a complete game (pitching, offense and defense) has reached new levels. The last two games, the Indians seemed to find ways to lose, which has become an overriding theme for the season.

The White Sox won the games by staying in the games and playing solidly throughout, while the Indians continually shot themselves in the foot with lackadaisical defense and by leaving 20 (yes, 20) combined men on base in the 2 games. Oh yeah, and the fact that the bullpen couldn’t put the Sox away in either game didn’t help a thing by squandering 2 nice starts by Lee and C.C.

In other news, Scott SauerBush was DFA’d by the Tribe, being replaced by Rafael Perez. Choruses of Handel’s “Messiah” were heard throughout the North Coast. This is, hopefully, the first sign of the Front Office leaning towards talent, instead of “veteran experience”. I could care less whether the SauerBush move was related to the DUI incident or not. All it means is that he won’t be pitching for the Tribe anymore in any capacity (if he clears waivers, he will not be offered an assignment to Buffalo).

We can only hope that Mota and Johnson are next in line for a re-assignment. These players have been given a chance, and their “track record” has not held up (or in Johnson’s case it has - he's proven that he's a loser). Basically, it’s high time we got some talented arms up here.

Don’t tell me that Jason Johnson “spread out” 11 hits in his last outing, or that he “worked his way out of trouble”. He gave up 11 hits! The problem is that that type of outing is typical. I don’t care if he goes for the DP ball.

Can we get a starter up here that doesn’t need to “spread out” his hits or “work his way out of trouble”? Or someone who doesn’t AVERAGE 1 2/3 baserunners an inning?

There was an interesting article in SI about Jim Leyland and the Tigers last week in which Leyland decided early in camp that Joel Zumaya and Justin Verlander were going to make the big-league team out of Spring Training because they had the best arms in camp, regardless of experience.

There’s something to be said for that philosophy and outlook – throwing your best cards on the table, instead of holding them for a later date.

Do Jeremy Guthrie, Jeremy Sowers, Edward Mujica, or Andrew Brown fit that description? In comparison to Johnson and Mota – yes.

It’s time for this team to play with a sense of urgency, put some complete games together, and find ways to win (not lose) before it does get too late.