I real do feel like the Indians have the potential to be a strong team. They have talent... their flaws are relatively few and seemingly fixable. But so far, those flaws stubbornly refuse to be fixed. Instead, they keep gaping wider and wider. All attempts to fix them have thus far failed. But they're still playing baseball on a daily basis at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, and that ain't so bad.

1. Asdrubal Cabrera is hitting .300, the first time in a long time anybody in our lineup has had that high an average. I know batting average is a little out of style in the age of the OPS, but it's still nice to see that somebody is maintaining a high level at the plate.

2. Another 12 hits today, from everybody except Lopez... they may not be scoring oodles of runs lately, but if they can get just a couple hits a game with runners in scoring position, they'll be able to do some pulling away of their own.

3. On a team that for a couple years has desperately needed a real, marketable star now has one in Jason Kipnis. He's on pace for high 20s home runs, over 100 RBIs, and once again has sole possession of the league lead in steals. Perhaps most importantly, he plays hard and is fun to watch.

Next, the Reds again. Want a positive? They can't do any worse than they did last time.