Written by Paul Cousineau

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It takes a lot for Paulie C to leave his perch in the Mezzanine prior to the 27th out being squeezed at an Indians home game.  But watching C.C. Sabathia compltely melt down once again and seeing the Indians lineup held to one hit through six by some AA no name did it last night.  Paul's frustrated.  We're all frustrated.  What gets this ship righted?  Can it be righted?  Paulie vents aloud in his reaction to last night's debacle. It takes quite a bit for me to leave my perch in the Mezzanine prior to the 27th out being squeezed at a Tribe game. But watching the reigning Cy Young winner giving up 9 ER in 4 IP while seeing a player (who may or may not be The Big Cat) who was traded by the pitching-starved Texas Rangers (for a AA outfielder named Michael Gonzalez in February of this year, by the by) allow just one hit through six innings while mowing through a toothless Tribe lineup swinging early and often?

Yeah, that will get me out of my seat and en route to the Family Truckster. As I write this, the Indians are coming to bat in the bottom of the 9th and let's just say that I'm opening my second Miller High Life at home.

If it were one aspect of the team, I would say that a problem and solution could easily be identified; but the starting pitching, the bullpen, and the offense have all played a part in this team looking complacent and, quite honestly, very bad. Night after night, opponents are working their way into situations to score runs as the Indians squander opportunity after opportunity. That formula ... um, that does not translate to a lot of wins.

At the risk of throwing an irrational overreaction on the stovetop, it's time for something to happen - whether it be a message sent to the players by way of a player being jettisoned or roles being changed to change the dynamic on this team...which is simply not working at this point.

Perhaps that means the buffet table gets flipped, perhaps that means that Jason Michaels finds a one-way ticket to Seattle (more on that in a couple of days) in his locker, perhaps that means that the 3B-LF situation is finally rectified to find out if Andy Marte figures into the future.

At this point, who the hell knows?

As serial poster minktrapper says, "what is the cut-off for saying, ‘hey, it's early'"?

Judging by the effort and results that have been put forth by this team since departing for their West Coast trip, it's coming up on the horizon a lot quicker than I'd like to acknowledge.

While I remain convinced that this team is talented and is scuffling, it's getting more difficult to believe that brighter days are ahead with each passing game as this team is getting hard to watch.