We've been able to figure out a couple of things about the Indians in this early season.1. CC Sabathia thought that since he won the Cy Young last season, batters were going to just lie down at the plate and "fear the Cy Young Winner." Well, this certainly hasn't happened, not even close. Actually, he's having more problems finding the plate than anything else. So far he's 0-2, his only no-decision came when he gave up 7 runs to the White Sox opening day when the Indians were up 7-0. ERA is up to 11.57. His cupcake intake must be through the roof too.
2. Fausto Carmona, Cy Young contended in 07, walked 8 batters in 3.1 innings the other night. The only performance that was worse in the history of the Indians was when Clarence Wright walked 8 in 2.2 innings, in '03. If you don't remember Clarence Wright there's probably a good reason for that, it was 1903 when he walked 8!!! Fausto almost broke a 105 year old record!!!!
3. Borowski is finally on the DL. Hopefully he'll not earn his closer job back when he gets healthy. It's just painful watching this guy pitch. Doesn't matter if they're up 1 run, 3 runs, 6 runs... He always seems to make things interesting. Best case was for him to get hurt, the Indians are forced into putting somebody else in that role and Borowski can figure out his problems in therapy.
4. Hafner still can't see the ball. He's got 14 Ks and 14 hits. He has to be making more contact than this. In the couple of games that I've seen, he's not swinging at strikes. He's swinging at 2-0 curveballs down in the zone. He's swinging at a fastball out of the zone on 3-1 and then watches a fastball on the inside part of the plate go by for strike 3. This just isn't the Travis Hafner of 2 years ago. He was feared, he is not now. Looks to me like he's putting too much pressure on himself, trying to hit the bases empty grand slam everytime he's at the plate. He's guessing too much. He needs to get back to whta he did in the past. See the ball, hit the ball. Get back to the basics.
5. We need Victor in the lineup. Peralta just isn't getting the job done hitting behind Hafner.
6. We need some help in the outfield. I think Gutierrez will be good, eventually, but they need another big bat out there. I don't think Delucci and Michaels are going to get the job done. Gutierrez is good hitting in the 9 spot, but they need another bat for the middle of the lineup.
7.Garko is hitting the ball pretty hard. This is very important!
8. Grady Sizemore is the best defensive CF in baseball.
9. The bullpen is horrible. Can't blame Borowski for the loss last night. 2 nights in a row the bullpen blew wins against the Red Sox. And a quick look at the standings puts the Indians at 5-9. For a team many picked to go to the Series, this is not a good start.
The season is still young, plenty of time to turn things around. Maybe you can blame the cold weather?? Who knows, excuses are not what they need right now. Good baseball is what they need right now.
The whole lineup is hitting right now. I think that's more of a function of the