Last year’s AL Cy Young winner and a guy who would have won the 2006 AL MVP had he stayed healthy…both are having extreme difficulties to start the season, a huge surprise.  Hafner had me wondering last year when his power numbers went way down…he only ha s3 this year so far.  CC was so dominant last year and was a great Cy Young choice, this year: a 7.51 ERA.  He seems to have improved as of late, but who would have thought he would have done this bad?  I know it’s only a month, but that ERA is through the roof..lucky for the Indians the rest of the staff has been able to keep things under control, especially Cliff Lee who seems to be back to his 2005 form, just 95 times better.

Hafner’s getting barely any help though.  When your premier slugger is batting .209, that is a problem.  Adding to that the fact that starters Asdrubal Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta, Jason Michaels, and Casey Blake are all right above or below the Mendoza Line equals a huge mess.

It’s definitely worrisome that your franchise hitter and your franchise Ace are both struggling this bad.  I’m sure they’ll pull out of it, but they’re lucky that A) they have a good amount of other talent around them and B) they’re only 2.5 games out despite their struggles.  You really have to give it up for the rest of the Indians team who have rallied around their struggling teammates and made up for the lack of production.  Guys like Victor Martinez (.347, 10 RBI) and the aforementioned Lee (0.96 ERA) especially.  Lee’s easily been the best pitcher in baseball this year, and V-Mart is still one of the two or three best offensive catchers in the game.
I’ll be pulling for the Tribe to make the next step to the World Series this year.  Good luck in the AL Central, though.

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