Skidding Towards the All-Star Break

The Indians ended the first half of the season by generally playing pretty crappy baseball.

Thursday: Tigers 12, Indians 3. CC stunk. Verlander didn't. Enough said.

Friday: Blue Jays 8, Indians 6. Cliff Lee stunk. So did Halladay, but much less than Cliff Lee.

Saturday: Indians 9, Blue Jays 4: Carmona pitched well. The Indians hit the ball. Heck, even Trot Nixon got a home run. Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds an acorn.

Sunday: Blue Jays 1, Indians 0: The Indians got shut out by Josh Towers and friends, wasting a great pitching effort by Paul Byrd. As Bill the Cat once so eloquently said, "Ack!"

The end result - the Tribe went from a 3-game lead over the Tigers to a 1-game deficit, in second place in the AL Central with a 52-36 record, 2 games back in the loss column. If you had asked me at the beginning of the season if I would be happy if the Indians had won 50 games by the All-Star break and were 1 game out of first place, I would have said then I would be ecstatic. This team still has an extremely good shot to win the AL Central, or, if not, to be the wild card team and play post-season baseball.

Pronk's Mojo? Well, it may be circling the field waiting for a landing. At times over the last couple weeks, Pronk has put together some at bats that look like the old Pronk, but he's often had little to show with it, as he's scorched line drives right at people, or he's been foiled by the Pronk Shift. With any luck, Pronk will have had a nice relaxing break and will come back ready to club some baseballs. If Pronk returns to being Pronk, the Indians really don't need to add another bat. This team could be really fearsome offensively if Pronk takes off, considering how well they've been doing with him underperforming.

What the Indians need to keep competing: another solid bullpen arm would be nice. The guy I'd love to see the Indians get, and who I'm sure will be available given the Reds' impending yard sale, is David Weathers. He's reasonably dependable, he can close if necessary, and he can give you more than one inning.

It would also be nice to see the Indians get a left-handed corner outfielder who can platoon with the guys we have (Michaels, Gutierrez and Francisco) so that we don't have to keep running Mosey Nixon out there so often.

Here's hoping the Tribe comes back from the break tanned, rested, and ready.