Aaah – just when I thought I wouldn’t hafta go through another baseball-lyte summer and up pops this stinker. I’ve got deja vu all over again. One aspect of the club is outstanding – starting pitching – and everything else – hitting, fielding, base running, relief pitching – stinks. There’s nobody in the high minors that looks like a potential all-star and we may, or may not, have help 2-3 years away somewhere in the Carolina League. I’ve seen this all before, over and over again.

But then again Adam, you’re right – it’s still baseball and even bad day at the ballpark is better than any other day of the year. Sit in the stands with your buds, have a few barley-pops, break some balls, talk a little baseball and pretend you acturally know what the hell you’re talking about. And best of all I got to see Delucci hit a game-winning homer offa “the greatest pitching prospect in the history of baseball” in the last game I’ll ever see in Yankee Stadium. All in all not a bad way to spend a warm summer’s night.

I’ve been an Indians fan since 1975. I was 10 at the time, and even though my parents did not follow baseball at all, I was excited by all the buzz about Frank Robinson, and then got hooked on baseball forever by the World Series of that year. I was raised on low expectations for the Indians and the phrase “June Swoon.” I remember the excitement of seeing Joe Carter and Cory Snyder on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

That being said, this year really is different. Of course the season’s not over, but it’s hard not to take some time to grieve over what it should have been based on last season’s performance – domination of the AL Central with a run deep into postseason and a reasonable chance at a World Series title. Blowing it up, again, for prospects is a different kind of excitement than what most of us here were looking for. And what makes it worse is that the failure appears to be systemic, and that the team which found ways to win so often last year, is finding new and different ways to lose. It’s the bullpen one day and the hitting the next, baserunning or fielding mistakes the next day.

But I’ll still be watching. You know you shouldn’t slow down to look at that car wreck on the other side of the freeway, but you do it anyway.

I’m excited about rooting for the team to overachieve once they get rid of all of these underachievers.

Each year 29 Major Legaue teams do not win the World Series, and the Indians are second only to the Cubs in accomplishing that feat.

This season, we got to discover that fact a little sooner than most.

Now’s the time to make the most of what’s left of this season by putting the pieces in place to ensure that a train wreck like this doesn’t happen again. As a fan of this team, I’m looking forward to it!

Ugh. What a complete buzzkill this year has been, especially coming off that interminable offseason and the wild rush of that Opening Day victory.

It really seems like the Indians broke down right smack in the middle of the ALCS last year and the problem was either misdiagnosed or never addressed. Save for the starting pitching in Games 5 and 6, those last 3 games in 2007 look an awful lot like most of the games this year in nearly every aspect of play. Here’s hoping whatever the hell is broken can be finally repaired before we start next year’s campaign (it would also be great to play spoilers for Chicago or Detroit, if that will be possible by season’s end).

I’ll still head down to the park on an odd Sunday to sit in the sun and enjoy a summer afternoon watching some pro ball in my favorite park (I might even do a couple over my vacation week when the Twins are in town), but right now I’m feeling shortchanged, depressed and angry … and that’s before I even consider that I’ve been witnessing the best starting rotation this team has seen in my lifetime going completely to waste.

I’ve been “accepting” this for a bit, but it stings like a mother nonetheless. :(

Yeah, my hopes have been dashed as well, just like the rest of you. But back in February, my hope was for a “boston” type run for our teams this year (and I know not everyone here roots for all of my teams).

The Cavs were going to be a tough out in the playoffs (and they were), but I had no hopes of a Finals reapperance due to the new team configuration and the numerous injuries.

My hope was that the run started in April, with the Tribe having a White Sox 2005 type season. An early breakout start, and a coasting into the playoffs where hopefully we had a decent shot of winning it all.

Then in the fall, the Browns start their drive for the playoffs (although I seriously doubt they could make the AFC title game). Then the Buckeyes continue their regular season dominance and have another BCS title appearance. And then next spring the Cavs become that Finals team again with the Tribe set up for a repeat.

Now, I just have to hope the Browns and Buckeyes start this soon to be found playoff run (maybe a title? – crosses fingers) with the Cavs and Tribe waiting for 2009 to do their damage. How I’d love to have all 4 in the playoffs in one calendar year with at least 2 of them with a decent shot of winning it all.

Dreams …... dreams …. dreams…....

To me, the only sense in which this season is not over is the fact that the Tribe is forced to play the remainder of the games on their schedule. While I wish I could view player development for the rest of this year as anything more than mildly interesting, I cannot. The fact is that I, and most people, had both realistic and high expectations for this team. Hell, I don’t think there’s anyone who thought the Tribe wouldn’t be semi-competitive. This was supposed to be one of the big target years accoring to the Big Plan, and so it’s a lot different than just another year where the Tribe didn’t win the WS. This one hurts.

So, as the saying goes, “You can’t polish a turd.”

Of course, I’ll still be watching, cause I got nowhere else to go.

This post made me feel better.

Pretty much how I feel. I can’t wait to see what this team evolves into. Good luck to any current Indian who goes elsewhere.

And baseball will be played. In Cleveland. In Buffalo. In Akron. In Kinston. In Eastlake. In Mahoning Valley. In Winter Haven.

Dang. My folks just bought a house in Goodyear. I should let them know.

Why the season is not finished?

Because if we keep losing, KLaw thinks we can get a solid prospect in the draft:

The very top of the draft looks fine for next year – Strasburg, Gibson, Oliver, Ackley, Green, Davis, maybe White if his arm is still attached. It’s the middle of the first round where the weakness of the college crop is going to start to show.