Short an Not So Sweet – The Game and This Tribe Recap

The same thing can be said with the Indians week to week. Just when you think they may have hit rock bottom, they somehow manage to sink lower. Poor Cliff Lee, he of the AL Cy Young award and little-to-no run support, decided that last night was the time he would have his worst start in almost three years. Then the rains came  – twice – and mercifully ending another White Sox domination of the Indians, 11-4 after seven innings.

It was a strange day weather-wise in Cleveland, with strong showers on and off all day long. The game was delayed at the start 30 minutes. It’s too bad they started it at all. In the top of the first Cliff walked Alexei Ramirez on four pitches – something he almost never does – in front of a Jermaine Dye RBI and a Paul Konerko two-run blast. Just like that it was 3-0. The Sox finished the inning with four runs on four hits. Again, this is something that just does not happen to Cliff version 2.0. So Tribe fans probably thought this was just one bad inning for Lee and he would settle back into his usual form. Unfortunately, that was not the case on this night.

In the third, a two-out, two-run double off the bat of Chris Getz put the Sox ahead 6-1. In the fourth, Lee was chased after a Jayson Nix double, a Ramirez single, and a Dye RBI single. The lefty’s final line was not pretty: 3.0 IP, 11 hits, seven earned runs. This ended his major league best 47 consecutive starts going at least five innings. Said Cliff after the game: “Bad outing. There’s no way around it. That’s not what my job description is.”

Trying to find Tribe highlights these days is about as easy as trying to figure out why my power has gone out four times in the last month despite the weather being fine. Travis Hafner hit a solo homer in the second. Asdrubal Cabrera cleared the bases with a double in fifth, his first three RBI since coming off the DL at the end of last week.

What else can I say about this one?

The Indians have now lost 12 of 14 and are becoming increasingly more irrelevant by the day. With so many losses so frequently, when do the Dolan’s force Mark Shapiro’s hand and end the Eric Wedge era? At what point do we question whether or not the players have either tuned out or quit on The Grinder?

Next week is the all star break and another opportunity for the owner to make a call on their skipper. Do they finally end “The Grind Tour?”