A Closer Look Is Necessary...

Before the Indians took the field against their arch rivals, the Detroit Tigers Tuesday night, Tribe manager Eric Wedge had the following assessment to share:

"On the last day of Spring Training, if someone said that the Indians would be tie with the Tigers for 1st place in the middle of August, we would have taken it, wouldn't we?"

Yeah, I would have taken it if that statement didn't imply that the team would have backed into a tie because the Tigers are playing (were playing) slightly more horribly that the Indians.

Yeah, I would have taken it if that statement didn't imply that the team would have wasted dozens and dozens of opportunities to be ahead of the Tigers by at least 10 games.

Because the Indians are in contention for the lead in the Central division, the Tribe brass and the media have joined forces on a campaign to have the fans "lighten up" on the Indians. Apparently the fans are asking too much for their team to react to a lack of hitting and a breakdown of relief pitching and play the kind of baseball that they are capable of. The team lacks leadership and direction.

The fact is that manager Eric Wedge does not possess the drive to hold this good team to a higher standard of great by making each individual play to, or near to their potential.

Wedge makes statements as to what is wrong with the team but fails to put together a plan to turn their fate back around. Instead, he tells the fans through the media that things will turn around, get better, etc. Yeah Wedge, you have a nice day too!

Why is everyone allowing excuses for the performance of the Cleveland Indians over the last 45 days? This team is on a terrible slide downward and no one is reacting, other than to say, "We need to keep our chins up and work though this." How? When? Where? With who? Get a plan...get pissed...kick the shit out of Slider just for general purposes!

Television color commentator Rick Manning teeters down the middle of the road between company man and Tribe critic. He likes to tell everyone that the hometown fans are the toughest critics on their own team but you can hear it in his voice that he is losing patience with the path the team is going down. Manning was a very competitive player and this passive "going through the motions" that the Indians are displaying has got to be eating him up inside. Manning is a fiery guy. It is only a matter of time before he loses it on the air.

After tonight's hideous loss to the Tigers, the Indians possess a record of 65 wins and 54 losses with 43 games to go. To win the division, they will need to win a bare minimum of 25 of those games to reach 90 wins. 25 of 43 games is a .581 winning percentage. For the season, they are at .546 and going lower. 90 wins probably is not enough and with the way the wild card competition is heating up, the Indians are on a path to miss the post season once again.

Because no one is holding anyone accountable, the only thing that I can figure is that perhaps Rachel Phelps bought the team from the Dolans and wants to move the team to Florida after the collapse of the season.