Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

Yes, our poor Indians are playing like zombies, but credit management with the good sense to remove Fenando Cabrera from the active roster. Everyone in the organization raves about Cabrera's arm, which is capable of delivering 95-mile-per-hour fastballs and deadly curves and sliders, but he completely lost focus this summer.

Following a strong start in April, Cabrera went bad the day Cleveland cut Jason Davis. It was almost as if thought, "That could be me." And he soon began pitching as if he was a goner. Cabrera walked batters, gave up big hits, and surrendered home runs that might still be orbiting the Earth.

Now, this is where general managers earn their money. Mark Shapiro and Tribe manager Eric Wedge worked feverishly behind the scenes to help Cabrera straighten out his mechanics. He has no minor league options remaining, so sending him back to Buffalo was out of the question.

The Indians probably would have cut him weeks ago, except they are still haunted by their decisions to send Brandon Phillips and Jeremy Guthrie packing. Phillips is an all-star with Cincinnati, and Guthrie has been one of Baltimore's most realiable starting pitchers.

When Cabrera finally received the bad news Tuesday, he reacted poorly. He told Anthony Castrovince, "I still feel I can do a good job. I had one bad outing."

ONE BAD OUTING!!!!!

This is the guy who got hammered in almost every one of his appearances since May. Wedge would try to spot him -- give him a chance when the club was up by six or more runs. But every time Cabrera entered a game, he'd manage to turn a rout into a nailbiter.

The Indians say he's healthy, which probably means his pitching problems are psychological. At any rate, as much as it hurts to give up on a guy with so much talent, they couldn't afford to give him the ball anymore -- not if the Tribe expects to remain in the pennant chase.

Castrovince says the Indians would love to sneak him through waivers and get him back to Buffalo. To which Cabrera replied: "We'll see what happens. There are 29 other teams, and everyone is looking for pitching."

Good riddance!

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Paul Byrd pitched LSU into the College World Series three times.

Today's quiz: From Ding-Dong School, name three bells (or a belle) who played for the Indians.

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-- Kevin Cuneo