the only thing worse than getting swept, is having an off day after getting swept.

At what point do we stop clinging to the desperate idea that the Indians have faced twenty straight great pitching performances?

I think that moment has already passed, based on the level of despair at LGT. Though Shawn Marcum was good.

And when are other fans going to catch on that their pitchers aren’t actually shutting down a good offense?

I would say never. “That’s a big-league team over there,” as the bromide has it.

All true Tribe fans should come to expect some sort of collapse, lull, what have you. I mean ITS CLEVELAND, I have been waiting for this for a while. In 06 my boys did not let me down. This year, its just “the Tribe being the tribe”, Wedge being Wedge, Buffalo being Buffalo, the short, skinny Cabrera being Cabrera, pudgy fatstop being Peralta. Capt Klutch being bearded and playing third. I just wish we had held on to Manny being Manny or Thome being Thome, or Brandon Phillips being a Red.

Agree whole heartedly with Brick. Ugh. Especially for those of us that are bigger fans of Cleveland than Lebron. At the same time, though, I remember some rough times early last year, too. I don’t think we were this bad offensively, but we weren’t hitting. Pronk sucked. Barfield was our 2B, for crying out loud. And we did alright. It’s a long season. And we’re second place to the White Sox. If that’s not a team that won’t come back to you, then God Speed, Chicago.

I guess I’m just going on record as saying it’s not time to worry just yet.

To get back to the playoffs, you have to win these divisional series.

The next 5 out of 7 series are against divisional foes (16 games total). So, these next three weeks are going to determine a good chunk of our fate. The key is not letting any team (other than us) run away with this thing. Stopping the White Sox is the first step in that.

It’s a terrible stretch to go through without any idea who the closer is or who even our #3 hitter is on any given day. This team needs to get some semblance of order before it gets too late.

Just a few words in defense of our boys.

Volquez now has a 3.00 ERA against the Indians, 1.12 against everybody else. 10.6 K/9 against everybody else, 7.5 against us. Indians: one HR, one 2B. Everybody else: one HR, three 2B — that’s not the average, that’s the total for his other seven starts.

So we did very well against Volquez. Harang, not so much. But Cueto, we actually hit very well.

Cueto faced 24 batters, got 7 K and 2 BB, and gave up three HR. That leaves 12 balls in play, and not one of them dropped for a hit. That is some rotten luck. The next ten batters, against middle relief, we got two doubles, two strikeouts, one walk, four more outs on balls in play. Over all, we probably weren’t patient enough, but we hit enough balls hard and just couldn’t buy a single all day long.

The hitting is in sorry shape, don’t get me wrong. But it wasn’t as miserable in the Reds series at it appeared to be.

We can take solace in knowing that although Masa blew the game the other night, aside from that he has pitched well. Once these jitters are gone, I see him becoming an effective MLB pitcher. He has proven that thus far. I see him maturing and being used more. Of course I am biased and want nothing more than him to succeed in the bullpen.