This week, I had the privilege of participating in a Cleveland Indians' roundtable for Cleveland.com and their Cleveland Sports Blog Network. I want to thank Dan Labbe for sending me the questions and giving our site a chance to respond to the Tribe's struggles. You can find the roundtable in its entirety at the following location, http://www.cleveland.com/sportsnetwork/index.ssf/2009/05/cleveland_sports_blog_network_12.html#post. Here are my responses along with the questions posed by Labbe.

**A special note that is mentioned in the full article is that some responses (mine included) were submitted prior to the Tribe sending Rafael Perez to Columbus, designating Vinnie Chulk for assignment, calling up Jeremy Sowers and Matt Herges, and moving Aaron Laffey to the bullpen.

Who deserves to shoulder more of the blame for the Indians' performance the last two seasons: Mark Shapiro or Eric Wedge?

Kirk: Can I do a write-in vote for Dolan? If I have to choose, I say Wedge. His inability to get his team off to a good start in April during nearly his entire tenure has made it difficult as the Indians have to play catch-up for the rest of the season. Shapiro has done as well as he can with the budget provided. In a way, it is neither's fault because last year's struggles were largely due to Hafner's and Martinez's injuries, and this year Hafner and Westbrook currently sit on the DL.

Would firing Eric Wedge change anything?

Kirk: No. We're already through April, and the Indians historically should only improve from here. I like the way Wedge tries to keep his players on an even keel and alleviate the pressure, but at some point, some accountability needs to be addressed. If the Tribe goes through May like they did April, I see someone else walking out to the mound to make pitching changes in June.

The Indians won and lost this one a couple times before it was all said and done. In the end, the Tribe managed to hold onto a three-run lead in the twelfth inning. Thanks to Jensen Lewis's first save of the season, the Tribe won this one 9-7 over the Toronto Blue Jays in 12 innings.

No-hit Through Six: Six innings into this one, the Tribe offense lay dead in the water at the hands of the forgetable and mediocre former Tribe prospect Brian Tallet. Tallet carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, before the Tribe got a hit from Ryan Garko and followed it up with Matt LaPorta's first major league hit and HR, a two-run shot that knotted things at 2. The Tribe added another run after a Francisco bunt single, Sizemore double, and Cabrera RBI fielder's choice.

Shorten the Leash: Fausto Carmona battled into the seventh inning tonight, but he couldn't hold the 3-2 lead he was handed in the bottom of the seventh. After surrenderring a two-run single to Toronto's Vernon Wells, he was relieved by Tony Sipp. I feel that in Carmona's last two starts, Manager Eric Wedge has perhaps stuck with him too long. Even though the bullpen has been shaky at best and Carmona's pitch count was low enough, I think exiting the game with a lead and a solid outing under his belt would do Carmona a world of good. His confidence is a very fragile thing, and they still need to treat the young pitcher with kid gloves at times.

Big Sippin': Now, as for this Tony Sipp; I mentioned earlier that he looked like he wanted more than a "Sipp" of big league life. He doesn't want a "cup of coffee"; he wants pot after pot, day after day as he looks to hold a permanent key role in the back end of the Tribe bullpen. Sipp closed the door in the seventh and worked a scoreless eighth also. As their trust in Sipp increases as the rest of the bullpen crashes and burns around him, look for Sipp to pitch in extended outings against more than just lefties.

Photo: AP

The Tribe finally won a series. The only problem is that it was the fifth series of the year. Despite a poor start to the campaign, the Indians moved to 6-10 and are only 3 games back of first place in the AL Central. Cleveland finally seemed to gain some stability in their starting rotation in this series. In game one of this series, it was a solid performance from Aaron Laffey that was almost thrown in the trash can by the bullpen. In game two, Cliff Lee's outing had no run support to lean on. Today, an 8th inning rally lifted the Tribe to a 5-2 victory and 2-1 victory in the series.

Starters Get Serious - In the last 3 games, the starters (Laffey, Lee, and Reyes) combined to pitch 21 innings and only gave up 5 earned runs; that's an average of 7 innings pitched and 1.7 earned runs per start. Just to put that in perspective, in the first 13 games, our starters averaged 5 innings and 4 earned runs per start. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come because the upcoming games against Minnesota and Boston will require strong starting pitching for the Tribe to have a chance to win.

2 for 1 - The Tribe turned an incredible 6 double plays in the first game of this series. That is a mark that ties the franchise record for most double plays in a game. When a team is turning that many double plays in a game, it is a product of the pitcher keeping his pitches down and forcing batters to hit the ball on the ground. Laffey pitched his way in and out of trouble, and the double play ball was a big reason we hung onto that game.

Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The Indians held a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh innning when Jorge Posada hit a ball to deep right field off of Jensen Lewis. The end result was a homer (or was it?), and it changed the tide of the game. More on that in a bit, but the Tribe dropped this one 7-3 to split the four game series.

Welcome Back: Carl Pavano faced his most recent former team, the Yankees, for the first time since his departure in the offseason. The Yankee fans have many fond memories of Pavano's days in the pinstripes, and they relayed that sense of appreciation with a spirited round of boos. Carl returned the favor by turning in his best start as an Indian thus far as the Indians logged their second quality start of the season (the first being Lee's outing on Thursday). For those of you who do not know, a quality start is defined as pitching six innings while giving up three runs or less. Pavano cruised for the first five innings, but he did get into some trouble in the sixth inning. With runners on 2nd and 1st with nobody out, Pavano got Jeter to ground into a double play. Then, after hitting Damon and walking Teixeira, he struck out Nick Swisher for the third time on the day. Pavano left after six innings giving up just the one run on four hits.

The Indians used a 14-run second inning to absolutely work over the Yankees today as they posted a 22 spot on the Yankees in their brand new ballpark for New York's second embarassment against the Tribe in three days.

• Everyone on the Indians got in on the fun as everyone who started had at least one hit and every starter but Ben Francisco had an RBI. Mark DeRosa and Asdrubal Cabrera each had 4 hits. DeRosa had 6 RBI while Cabrera had 5. There were six homers in the game, three of which were in that explosive second inning. Choo, Cabrera, Sizemore, DeRosa, Martinez, and Hafner all went deep today.

• Chien Ming Wang should probably just give up pitching against the Indians. Wang has been absolutely tattooed by the Tribe in his career at times, and today he did not escape that second frame, giving up 8 runs in 1 1/3 innings.

• Fausto Carmona had a much better outing today as he seemed to have more control than his first two starts of the season. Fausto lasted six innings, giving up 4 runs on 6 hits while walking 4 and striking one Yankee out. The walks are still something to watch closely as they are generally a sign of Carmona's effectiveness.

• The Yankees bullpen is absolutely ravaged right now. They had four guys throw 20+ pitches out of the pen today and three guys throw 40+ pitches. After calling up bullpen help today, they will likely need to do so again for tomorrow's series finale.

• Remember when Masa Kobayashi was in danger of being cut during spring training? Apparently, he got the message full force as he has been nothing but lights out since Opening Day. Kobayashi has the best ERA out of the bullpen with a 1.35 mark, and he continues to push himself back towards the later innings after the struggles of Rafael Perez and Jensen Lewis.

• I know that they tried to make the new Yankee Stadium a modernized clone of the old one, but I don't recall the old one being a launching pad for home runs. Today, there were eight homers in the game, and at least four or five should have stayed in the park as long fly balls. But, New Yankee Stadium is doing its best impression of Coors Field or the Ballpark at Arlington right now.

The Tribe closes the series out with the Yankees tomorrow afternoon as they look to take 3 out of 4.

TALKIN' TRIBE

Kirk

The Indians ruined the Yankees' opener in New Yankee Stadium, but the Bronx Bombers exacted some revenge today as they used 5 solo shots to rally late and win it 6-5.

Click "Read More.." to check out the Tribe recap.

The uniforms were fresh out of the box, the grass in Arlington was freshly cut, and the smell of new season promise was in the air today.  Just one small problem, the Indians were not informed that they were playing a game that counted today.  The Tribe bats were silent, and Cy Young winner Cliff Lee struggled as the Rangers stood on the launch pad watching their hits for most of the day.  Here's a few observations from the opener.

• I think I'm with most Indians' fans in saying how great it is to see Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner back-to-back in the lineup and healthy once again.  It may take a while for things to get back to the way they were, and it may never get all the way back, but having them both in there today is one small step in the recovery of the Tribe offense.

• Speaking of the middle of the order mashers, they did have some quality at-bats today.  Martinez worked the count in each of his plate appearances, including a 10-pitch battle with Rangers starter Kevin Milwood in the first which ended in a inning-ending double play.  Vic was 1-for-4 on the day.  Hafner lined a single to left center field in his third at-bat, but he also grounded into a double play and popped up weakly to the third baseman twice.  It's a positive to see Pronk get a hit in a game that counts, and he also didn't strike out or look lost in any at-bat.  Furthermore, his double play was a ball hit up the middle that would've been an RBI single if not for the "Hafner shift".  It's not an excuse, just an explanation, and a reason for Hafner to work on hitting the ball the other way where there is one guy on the entire left side of the infield.

As the title above suggests, the Indians and I are not on each other's speed dial.  As I wrote my Tribe Season Preview: Part Four last night, I stated that I thought Aaron Laffey had the inside track on the last spot over Scott Lewis.  Well, the Tribe threw a high and inside heater on me today as the club announced that Laffey has been sent to minors and Lewis has won the fifth starter job.  Laffey was roughed up yesterday, and even though Lewis has been pitching mainly in relief during the spring (albeit for five innings at a time), the Tribe decided to take a chance on the youngster who pitched so well at the end of the '08 season.  Lewis will reportedly pitch the fourth game of the year to give Anthony Reyes extra rest.  Congratulations to the OSU alum for winning the job out of spring training, but I don't think Aaron Laffey will be camped out in Columbus all year long.

IT'S TRIBE TIME NOW!

Kirk

In this installment of the 2009 season preview for the Tribe, we are going to take a look at the starting rotation competition.  This is quite a fluid situation, and we could see multiple players filling the last few spots throughout the season.  Here is what the starting five looks like heading into the final weeks of spring training.

Cy-Young Award winner Cliff Lee looks to be the anchor of the Tribe rotation heading into the '09 season.  Lee came out of nowhere last season to win the award after winning the open competition last spring for the number five spot in the starting rotation.  While the Indians broke camp with C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Jake Westbrook, and Paul Byrd ahead of him, Lee proved to be the rock of the fivesome as Sabathia and Byrd were traded, Westbrook was injured, and Carmona had a down year with control issues.  The 30-year-old left-handed Lee posted a 22-3 record with a 2.54 ERA last season.  He did this in 31 starts, finishing 4 of them while striking out a respectable 170 hitters in 223 1/3 innings pitched.  The main issue for Lee is going to be the pressure placed on him as the unquestioned ace of this rotation and consistency.  Lee was quite consistent from '04 to '06, posting 14, 18, and 14 wins respectively while pitching 200+ innings twice.  2007 was a disaster year as Lee found himself injured and eventually at AAA Buffalo and left off the Tribe's postseason roster.  Lee was just 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA in that campaign.  I anticipate that Lee will have a solid season but nothing close to the Cy Young performance of 2008.  Expect 18 wins and a sub-4.00 ERA from Cliff in 2009.

Fausto Carmona is the real wild card for the Indians' rotation this season.  If he has a solid season, the rotation will likely be solid.  If he cannot get his control issues together, we could see too many youngsters in the rotation and even more pressure on Cliff Lee to perform at a high level.  The Indians are hoping they get the 2007 Fausto Carmona who had 19 wins and a 3.06 ERA in 215 innings and was absolutely baffling opposing hitters.  If they get the 2008 version of Carmona, look for periods of uncontrollable sinkers, walk after walk, and early exits from the ballgame.  Carmona's sinker is the key to his success; if he can locate it so that it is close enough that the hitters have to offer at it, he can be virtually unhittable.  The problem lies when the right-handed Carmona cannot get hitters to offer at his sinker as he tends to have trouble throwing enough of his other pitches for strikes.  Last season, Fausto was 8-7 in 120 innings pitched but walked 70 hitters and had an unacceptable ERA of 5.44.  His WHIP, which is walks and hits divided by innings pitched, was 1.62 where an acceptable WHIP is below 1.30 or so, such as his 1.21 WHIP in 2007.  I expect big things from Carmona in '09 as I hope he can raise his performance level to challenge Lee for the ace of the Tribe rotation.  If the Indians get 17 or 18 W's and a sub-4.00 ERA from Carmona, they'll take it.