Tribe Watch '13 (Week 10)

Record: 30 - 32

Standing: Second in AL Central (5.5 games behind Detroit)

What an utterly disastrous week for the Indians. The team was already struggling and then they proceed to get swept by both the Yankees and the Tigers. Our losing streak is at 7 games. We have lost 11 straight games on the road, which is the longest streak the Indians have had in over twenty years. We are back under .500 for the season. And we are now 5 and half games out of first place. There just are not many bright spots for this team right now as the offense is not producing and the pitching, while not terrible, have been giving up runs in key situations. The only thing I'm holding on to right now and keeping me from believing we are destined to have another second half implosion is the fact that we are playing an unbelievably rough schedule right now. It's been weeks since we have played a sub .500 team. We've got one more tough week and then things cool off considerably. We have to find a way to weather this storm. This week the Indians finish up this brutal road trip with a 3 game series in Texas. Then they will come back home this weekend to play the Washington Nationals. If we can have even a moderately productive week, it may help us refocus and get back to our winning ways against the lesser teams that we'll eventually play. If we have another week like this past one, then there may not be any recovery from it, which would set us up for another long disappointing summer. It may look bleak at the moment, but we gotta keep this town as "Believeland". Send some positive energy toward this team - any little bit could help these days. As always, Go Tribe!

Tribe Watch (Week 12)

Record: 40-38

Standing: 2nd in AL Central (1.5 games back)

I was almost ready to write this team off for this season after they got swept by the Yankees earlier this week. All facets of our game looked bad, but in particular the offense was non-existent. However, as if often the case in baseball, things turn quickly. The Indians managed to recover by taking 3 out of 4 against the Orioles and had solid hitting in each of the four games. On the roster front, it was another good news/bad news situation. On the positive side, it appears Travis Hafner will rejoin the team on Monday, which could provide a boost to the offense. However, during the Baltimore series young third baseman, Lonnie Chisenhall was hit by a pitch that broke a bone in his arm. After having surgery the report is that he'll be out 10-12 weeks, which pretty much means he won't return this season. Though the Indians are still in second place, they could put themselves in a good position heading into the All Star Break if they manage to play well this week. They return home to play a couple of tough opponents. First up will be the Anaheim Angels. We were fortunate enough to play well against them earlier this season when they were struggling. It'll be interesting to see how we fare against them now that they have had a resurgence. We'll then finish off the first half of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays. They have been bitten by the injury bug all season long, yet have still managed to play well so we can't let our guard down against them. And of course, the trade deadline is still looming, so it should be interesting to see what, if any, changes are made to the roster in the coming days. All of it makes for some exciting baseball that should be fun to watch. Go Tribe!

Tribe Watch (Week 9)

Record: 32-27

Standing: 2nd in AL Central (0.5 games back)

While far from a great week, there was definitely an improved effort from this team in comparison to how they had played the week before. The Indians managed to score two series victories, taking two of out three from both the Tigers and the Cardinals. Both of those teams, while struggling, are solid opponents so it was nice to come away with wins against both of them. Most notably the pitching was much better this week. Ubaldo Jimenez had two quality starts in a row, which is positve to see. Sadly, the guy who probably had the best pitching performance, Justin Masterson, came away with a loss on Saturday due to the Tribe getting shut out for the first time this season. Of course, I would love to see the Indians continue to improve on offense. Now that we're in the middle of interleague play, it means we'll be playing several games without the luxury of a DH, so each of our positional players need to pick up the slack when it comes to the bat. Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis (who hit the game-winning 3 run home run today) have been great at the plate, but guys like Carlos Santana really need to start having more quality at-bats so that we're not constantly leaving guys on base. Speaking of interleague play, it continues to roll on this week as the Indians will head to Cincinnati to play their cross-state rivals the Reds for 3 games. Then it's finally back home to take on the Pittsburg Pirates in a three game set. Teams that do well during interleague play typically find their way into the post-season, so let's hope the Indians can continue their winnings ways against these National League teams. Go Tribe!

Tribe Watch (Week 5)

Record: 18-16

Standing: First in AL Central

It was a week that kept looking like it was going to turn out better than it actually did. We began with a great sweep of a doubleheader against Chicago on Monday and then proceeded to lose the next two games to them. Then we started our series against the Red Sox by beating them up, only to see us lose the next three games to them. Up until this week most of the losses we've had, were close, competitive games. This week, however, we had games where all parts of our team faltered. Pitching and clutch hitting need to improve. In terms of roster moves, that too produced a mixed bag. Starter Josh Tomlin went on the DL with a sore wrist, but we finally got rid of some dead weight in the bullpen by designating Dan Wheeler for assignment. Looking ahead to this week, we begin with a short series in Minnesota against a Twins team that has just been awful so far this year. They may just be the perfect team to face to help us get our confidence back and in a good groove. It's then back home to place the Mariners, which is another team that is not very good. Finally we head into the weekend to begin interleague play against (ugh) Ozzie Guillen and the new look Miami Marlins. Here's hoping this will be a good rebound week so that we can maintain our hold on first place in the division. And as always, I'll be there watching each game and rooting my team on. Go Tribe!

Tribe Watch (Week 3)

Record: 11 - 9

Standing: First in AL Central

While far from perfect, I'd have to say that this was a net positive week. While we only managed to go 3-3 on this homestand, things could have been a whole lot worse. The offense still continues to scuffle, but we kept finding ways to score runs. More importantly, almost every started had a good outing this week, which meant we were competitive in every game even if we ultimately lost it. There were two key factors working against our offense this week. The weather in Cleveland was miserable so there weren't a lot of balls flying off the bats. And we were without Shin Soo Choo, who was dealing with a hamstring issue. Both of those problems will hopefully be eliminated this week and this team can start producing more runs. Perhaps more important of all is that fact that while we only played .500 ball, we managed to move into first place thanks to the struggles of the Detroit and Chicago. Speaking of those nasty White Sox, we begin a three game set with them on Tuesday, followed by a trip right back home to face off against the Rangers next week. This likely won't be an easy week since stupid Chicago always plays us tough and the Rangers looks to be heads and tails above everyone else in the American League. We'll need all facets of our game playing at top quality if we want to stay atop the AL Central. I likely won't have any nails by the time the week is over, but that's ok because I love watching my Indians. Go Tribe!

Tribe Watch (Week 20)

Record: 62-61

Standing: Second in AL Central

The Indians were victims of a Motor City Massacre this weekend. After finally exercising some demons in Chicago by taking two out of three from the White Sox, we went into Detroit and got steamrolled. Neither the offense nor the starting pitching looked strong. Tomlin continues to give up too many home runs, Huff had an off days and Jimenez got rocked for 8 runs in four innings of work today. The bats finally started to come to life today and nearly overcame a seven run deficit, only to fall short thanks to some poor base coaching in the ninth. We currently sit four and half games in back of Detroit right now. Mathematically, we are not out of it by a long shot, especially considering how many games we still have left against teams in our division. With that said, I'm beginning to think now that this team just doesn't have the right combination of killer instinct and talent to push them past the Tigers and win the division. It always seems like there's at least one core area of the team that's faltering. And of top of that, the injuries continue to mount up. Rookie Jason Kipnis, who had provided a real offensive boost to the team went on the 15-day DL and Travis Hafner, once again, left in the middle of the game hobbling with some sort of foot or leg injury. While doubt may be creeping into my mind about this team, I certainly hope that they are able to remain confident. It'll be of the utmost importance to do so heading into this week. We head home for a long home game stretch against three teams with poor records. We'll begin with a four game series against the Mariners, which includes a double-header and then move onto a weekend set with the Royals. Winning ball clubs are the ones who are able to beat up on weaker competition, so we need to win most of these games in order to stay competitve. If we can, then all we can hope for is for Detroit and Chicago to lose some games and we'll be right back in it. We'll see where things stand next week. Until then, Go Tribe!