Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

Yes, it's starting to feeling like 1969 all over again. The Indians stank back then, and it's not much different now.

A capacity Jacobs Field crowd unmercifully booed reliever Joe Borowski and manager Eric Wedge after they let Tuesday's game against Detroit slip away in the 10th inning. The broadcasters keep calling the American League Central Division "The toughest in baseball," but it's not. If fact, it's not even close.

When the Tigers and Indians battled last night, a ton of strikeouts on both sides made it a boring game. The Tribe's been playing extremely boring baseball for a month now. You can't help but feel the team's ready to slide right down the tube. It's already begun the descent, in fact.

Let's play the blame game for a minute. Why not? We need to relieve our frustrations somehow. This is Wedge's club and he must answer for the team's spiritless performance since the all-star break. He went public after last night's game with complaints against "a couple of players who know who they are." That's about as harsh as Wedge gets. Oh, he did send Cliff Lee back to the minors after he tangled twice during a game with Victor Martinez. Lee's pitching was putrid, too, so a demotion didn't seem out of the ordinary. But Lee is pitching well now, and the Tribe could use a boost -- out of the bullpen, if nothing else. I don't understand this vindictive streak of Indians management, especially when they need reinforcements.

Wedge seems at a loss in finding a way to motivate the Indians. Whatever he's trying isn't working. Should the club sack batting coach Derek Shelton? Perhaps. Nobody was complaining about the coach earlier this year when the club was hitting in the clutch and scoring scads of runs. But that never happens now. If they have somebody who can step in make things better, why not go for it?

Trouble is, they probably don't. That was a sorry moment in last night's game, however, when it was never even an option for Jhonny Peralta to bunt, because he apparently doesn't know how to bunt. Peralta's looked lost in recent games, and I assume he is one of the players Wedge referred to in his cryptic call-out.

The Indians are now a game out of first, which wouldn't seem bad at all if somebody had offered us fans that option last March. But it feels as if as soon as the Tigers start playing decent baseball again, they'll leave the Tribe in the dust.

Sorry to sound so down, but it's kind of the way I'm feeling about our beloved Wahoos.

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Jimmy Piersall used to hide behind the monuments at Yankee Stadium when Mickey Mantle came to bat.

Today's quiz: Name the power-hitting Indians first baseman whose real name was Troyavesky

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-- Kevin Cuneo