Written by Steve Buffum

---

Well, so much for that winning streak. It was a disaster down in Tampa this weekend, as the good guys dropped three straight, killing any momentum they had generated, and culminating in a bench clearing almost-fracas late on Sunday afternoon. There's not much to be happy about from the weekend set, and today's B-List clearly reflects that. It's short, sharp, snide ... and dripping with the frustration that we all feel as fans.  

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (14-23)	2	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	7	11	2
Rays (17-20)	0	0	0	3	0	2	1	1	1	8	10	1

W: Wheeler (1-0)            L: Vizcaino (0-1)

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (14-24)	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	6	0
Rays (18-20)	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	X	4	8	0

W: Garza (4-2)               L: Pavano (3-4)              S: J. Nelson (2)

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians (14-25)	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	5	8	0
Rays (19-20)	1	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	X	7	8	0

W: Sonnanstine (3-4)     L: Huff (0-1)      S: Percival (7)

Short, sharp, snide.

1) You're not fooling me

I resent that the Indians dressed up Jeremy Sowers in a David Huff suit.

Seriously, what was the point of THAT?  Four extra-base hits out of 7 in 3 2/3 IP, 4 walks, 2 Ks ... same sub-90s stuff, same elevated target, same result.  Convince me this guy is better or even different from Sowers or Scott Lewis.  Having three of something is only valuable if the thing you have three of is valuable in the first place.

Jeremy Sowers by any other name is just as pointless.

2) On a scale from One to Suck

How likely was it that Jose Vizcaino would give up the winning run on Friday?  I mean, c'mon.  Have you watched ANY baseball the last couple of seasons?  He was good once.  Now he's not.  And ... cut!  That's a wrap.

Here's a new rule for the front office: you get one point five (1.5) bullpen retread lightning-in-a-bottle catches in a season.  That's it.  You can try as many as you want in the pre-season or in the minors, but it ONLY WORKS ONCE.  2005 was a gork.  It hasn't worked since.  Gil Mota.  Davvy Graves.  Oldberto Hernandez.  Brendan Donnelly.  Rick Bauer.  Stop it.

You found half a guy in Vinnie Chulk, so good for you.  You found the One Guy in Matt Herges.  Hey, I didn't expect that, you did it, kudos.  Now stop.  Don't double down.  If you let it ride, you eventually go bust.  You found him.  Good job.

Now walk away from the table.  Go home with a dollar in your pocket.  Get out of the casino.

3) A nod to fairness

Greg Aquino was pretty good.  I like the groundball stuff.  Punt Vizcaino.

4) You gotta be kidding me

Extra-base hits by 3-4-5-6 hitters for Cleveland Sunday: 0
Extra-base hits by starting pitchers for Tampa Sunday: 1

I mean, look, it's bad enough to give up TWO extra-base hits to JASON BARTLETT, who is the John McDonald of his generation, but to give one up to Andy Sonnanstine after Joe Maddon somehow tried to play two third basemen is simply unacceptible.  Jeremy Sowers must be sent down some more, even if his jersey says "Huff" on it.  I cannot be duped.

5) Squander Ball!

Sweet work leaving 5 of 9 men in SCORING POSITION in a 4-2 game.  Three by Kelly Shoppach all by his lonesome!  He drew two walks, but all that accomplished was giving him the confidence to strike out looking.

6) This just in

Luis Valbuena is not hitting major-league pitching.

I'm not saying he can't.  I'm not saying he won't.  I am saying that I'm tired of waiting for it to happen.

7) Fungus watch

Of COURSE Ben Francisco smacked two home runs on Sunday.  Maybe I should call EVERYONE a fungus.

Nice hitting, Ben, but you're still a fraud.  Phbt!

8) Welcome back!

Jamey Carroll got back into the groove with two hits Friday and three more (including the Weakling Cycle of single-double-triple).  After starting the season with an 0-for-3 collar, Carroll now leads the team with a .417 AVG and a .667 SLG.

(It is possible that Victor Martinez is still the better hitter.)

9) Relief vs. Not Relief

Relief is calling on Aaron Laffey to come in with a runner on base for Carl Pavano, then getting out of the inning and giving up a run on two hits in 3 complete innings of work.

Not Relief is Tony Sipp coming in an walking the only batter he faced.

Relief is Greg Aquino coming in and inducing 5 groundball outs in 2 1/3 innings, striking out Bip Zobrist with runners on base, and completing 2 1/3 innings of 1-hit (but 2-walk, sadly) scoreless work.

Not Relief is Jensen Lewis giving up three hits in one inning, giving up a run.

Relief is Matt Herges striking out 4 of the 6 batters he faced, going 1 2/3 hitless, scoreless innings.

Not Relief is Raffy Betancourt blundering his way through a two-walk one-hit outing in which he gave up the game-tying home run to BERT ZOBRIST.  I mean, c'mon, guys.  Gah!

Relief is ... I dunno, I guess Kerry Wood struck out a guy.  I'm not sure what the point of that was.  He walked one, too, so we're kinda stretching the definition here.

Not Relief is Jose Vizcaino.  Hey, at least it was a full count.

So, empirically, we have as much Relief as Not Relief on this squad.  Maybe we didn't use it optimally.  Phbt!

10) Noteworthy

I do not like the concept of David Dellucci playing for this team, but he did smack two hits on Saturday, including a double.

Asdrubal Cabrera led off for the first time this season.  He did not do it particularly well, but it is worth noting.

Left-handers Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo hit homers off the nominally-lefthanded Scott Kazmir.  He stinks.

Ben Francisco not only hit the two homers, but he pinch-ran and stole a base to get into scoring position as the tying run.  Alas, Kelly Shoppach was at the plate.

11) The streaky nature of streaks

Yeah, I was wrong.  Phbt!