Red Right 88

This year it was supposed to be different

This season was supposed to be different for the Cleveland Indians.

Or so we were told.

Terry Francona is not Manny Acta. The manager and the front office are on the same page together.

Or so we were told when Francona was hired last fall.

Forget the left field platoon of Johnny Damon and Shelly Duncan. And the predominately left-handed hitting lineup. This year’s lineup is better.

Or so we were told.

Don’t worry about the 5-24 stretch from last August. That can’t happen again.

Or so we were told.

Don’t worry about the collapses of 2011 and 2012. This is a different team. Things will be different.

Or so we were told.

But after Wednesday’s loss to the New York Yankees, one thing has started to become crystal clear about this Indians team:

The names on the back of the jerseys and the faces in the dugout may have changed from last season, but this is still the same Tribe.

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Wheels are starting to fly off the Tribe’s party bus

What a difference a week makes for the Cleveland Indians.

The Tribe headed into last week’s two-game series with Detroit riding high, winners of 18 of their past 22 games following a four-game sweep of Seattle that, while entertaining, sent up enough warning signs that the Tribe was living on borrowed time. The Indians were also in first place, 2.5 games in front of the Tigers.

Now, after seven losses in their past eight games, including five in a row, some of the shine has rubbed off Francona Ball. The Tribe comes home tonight for a two-game series with Cincinnati, 2.5 games behind the Tigers and once again nursing a Detroit hangover.

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Masteron, Bauer distract from Tribe’s anemic offense

Lost in the fan euphoria over the Cleveland Indians splitting a doubleheader with the New York Yankees on Monday is the fact that the Tribe offense was embarrassingly bad.

One run over 18 innings of play? That’s all they can get with New York starting David Phelps and Vidal Nuno? And fans are supposed to be happy that the Tribe earned a split against a Yankee team that is playing without Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira?

Wow, talk about low expectations. (Or maybe we are just not being realistic in our expectations.)

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There is something oddly familiar about the Indians so far

The Cleveland Indians have a familiar look to them through the first eight games of the 2013 season.

It’s not so much the offense,even though the 2-3-4 for part of the lineup (Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Kipnis and Nick Swisher, the man with the largest free agent contract in franchise history) are hitting a combined .172 with just two home runs and six RBI on the season.

Or that the Tribe has scored one or fewer runs three times in the past six games, helping contribute to the Indians losing five of those games.

No, it’s the starting pitching that is giving Tribe fans flashbacks to 2012, when the Indians had the worst starting rotation in the American League.

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All in all, not a bad opening week for the Tribe

The Cleveland Indians come back to the North Coast for today’s home opener after what, for them, has to be considered a nice road trip to open the season.

Sure, 3-3 on the road doesn’t sound good on the surface, especially since the Tribe won the first two games of the trip in Toronto. But this is a Tribe team that has averaged 89 losses a year for the past five years, has been a collective 77 games under .500 on the road during that time, and was facing Toronto and Tampa Bay – only two of the American League’s better teams. Considering all that and, well, splitting the season’s first road trip isn’t a bad deal at all.

Even though six games is a small sample size, Tribe fans got a glimpse during the first week of what they will see from the team this year – and what the Tribe needs to do to be competitive.

Head over to The Cleveland Fan for the rest of the story.

(Photo by The Associated Press)