Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

Cleveland's brief honeymoon following Sunday's clinching of the A.L. Central Division championship has ended in Seattle. GM Mark Shapiro and Manager Eric Wedge had been tinkering with the post-season roster, but it was pretty minor stuff. The final players to make the team would in all likelihood not have a big say in the outcome of the October games.

Joe Borowski's ninth-inning meltdowns these past two nights, however, have thrown a big wrench in the Tribe's smooth-running engine. Borowski has been an enigma this season. Yes, he leads the league with 43 saves, but he's also blown eight saves and his earned run average is a healthy 5.23.

Until now, the Indians could laugh and say, "Oh, that's just Joe. Sure, he's blown some games, but you've got to look at the bottom line -- those 43 saves."

I'm not laughing, because I can see Borowski melting down against the Yankees. It's happened before. In sports, coaches and managers love the cliche, "You dance with the one that brought you," and while I admire the loyalty in that sentiment, it makes me uneasy -- especially at this point in the season.

In 1997, Cleveland blew the seventh game of the World Series against Florida because Mike Hargrove turned to closer Jose Mesa, instead of staying with Eric Plunk, who'd struck out the side during the previous inning. Mesa had a deer-in-the-headlights look throughout the series, and I was surprised Hargrove failed to recognize this and take action to rectify the situation.

Hargrove's not the only manager who's blown big World Series games by insisting on staying with a valued closer who, for whatever reason, has hit the skids. It happened with Joe Torre and Mariano Rivera against Arizona six years ago -- and Rivera might be the game's all-time greatest closer.

The thing is, you don't manage in the post season the way you do during the regular season. Managers must be quick to pull the plug, as you only have so many chances in these all-too-brief series. Wedge absolutely should not insert Borowski into the game in anything but a save situation. A couple times in recent days, he's used the closer when the score was tied. With Borowski, that's inviting disaster.

Have I lost faith in Borowski? Not completely, but the game-tying home runs he coughed up to Seattle on successive nights has shaken me. If I was the manager, I'd go with the hot hand -- Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, even Jensen Lewis -- in the playoffs.

When the games start next week, the Indians must play for keeps.

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Jake Westbrook. He was headed to the Univ. of Georgia before he signed a professional baseball contract.

Today's quiz: Name the former Tribesman who is the father of the current Rex Sox manager.

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-- Kevin Cuneo