Big Week for Cleveland Sports Masks How Bad Tribe Has Been

In a week dominated with the two other Cleveland sports, the Indians have quietly lost three out of four. I think if this had to happen, now is a good time, with people preoccupied with the Cavs in the playoffs versus the Bulls, and the Browns draft (I’ll admit it, I’m giddy over Colt McCoy in the third round). People are too busy with the other sports to see how bad the Tribe has been. The Tribe was outscored in the two losses to Minnesota and a loss to Oakland last night 21-1. That’s bad, if you’re keeping score at home.

By the way, I gave a plug for King James Gospel the other day, I’d like to do the same for Dawg Pound Daily, Fansided’s Cleveland Browns blog. They’ve been covering the draft and are a great source for Browns info.

Anyways, back to baseball. The Indians offense has been bad, and it makes me nervous, because the cavalry has already arrived, and that’s Russell Branyan. Yeah, that’s right, the Indians are calling on Russell freaking Branyan to save this offense.

Don’t get me wrong, Branyan is a nice player (no sarcasm, because he is, I just don’t like the fit on this team), but he’s a platoon guy with a balky back. He’s not going to re-energize this Indians offense. Tribe faithful will have to sit through this slump and hope guys like Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore (really, anyone not named Shin-Soo Choo) get going.

Kerry Wood wasn’t happy with the simulated game he threw. Not good news, although the Indians aren’t calling it a setback. They need to re-evaluate Wood, which could take up to 24 hours. We will probably know more on Monday. The Chris Perez experiment hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as planned, and if the Indians want any hope of trading Wood for someone of value, then Wood needs to prove he is healthy. No one is going to trade for damaged goods.