Thomas A. Hawk, Esq.

After watching Paul Byrd baffle the Twins (to avoid the sweep) in a bar at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, we're coming to you from the Western Shores of Lake Michigan...Milwaukee, which as Alice Cooper told us means...forget it.

And with that, let the Tomahawks fly:

• Mike Hegan (or Rick Manning) had an interesting comment about Carmona falling off of (or twisting off of) the mound as he followed through his pitch, causing the balls to run up. The end result being that he's not throwing strikes, and when he does, it's over the plate, letter-high, and in the hitters' wheelhouse. He also mentioned that JD and Cabrera have the same problem. If he notices it, and we all notice it, can we have someone work on this to see if these guys can develop a consistent delivery where they work downhill, that will produce strikes, and notably strikes that don't land over the fence?

• Did anyone else see the Twins series as how this team was supposed to play in 2007, excluding of course the travesty of a bullpen that continues to get the ball? Solid starting pitching, enough offense, and...and...God, that bullpen is a killer. Wedge is stretching out his starters, mainly because this bullpen reminds me of the Donald Sutherland character in Backdraft. They want to see everything burn to the ground, and they're doing a bang-up job so far.

• Ryan Garko has continued to impress, but not just at the plate. Garko has proven himself to be an adequate 1B and, while he will never evoke thoughts of JT Snow at 1B, he is certainly a valid option for 2007. As long as he continues to hit through the end of this year, he should be given the first opportunity to go into WInter Haven as the starting 1B.

• Apparently Trevor Crowe has made the switch to 2B in Akron and may be closer to being ML-ready than originally thought. That readiness SHOULD affect the type of player the Indians pursue in the off-season, which is to say that they shouldn't be doling out 4 year deals if Crowe is close to contributing. That certainly will downgrade the players available to them, but if they think they can get by with a Band-Aid at 2B in 2007 (and don't think that means Inglett or Luna), they can use the dollars elsewhere.

• After golfing with a Cubs fan this afternoon, he mentioned that he thinks that the Cubs are a starting pitcher (he mentioned Barry Zito) and a power corner OF (he mentioned C. Lee and Soriano) away from contending in the dreadful NL Central. Nothing surprising about that (unbridled optimism from the North Side), but noteworthy in that those two spots (SP and OF) are where most teams feel that they need to upgrade (including the Indians, particularly in the OF), so the competition is going to be fierce (as usual) for quality FA.

• By the way, the Cubs payroll was north of $95M this year and the team is worse than the Indians. There are worse scenarios than the one we face on the North Coast.

Off to the sanitary confines of a closed-roof Miller Park for a Brewers-Astros game. There's something about watching a game in a dome (or closed roof stadium) that just doesn't feel right.

Feel free to go nuts on the comments section as I don't know how frequently I'll be able to get to a computer until Monday.