We had to put up with this silliness last year when they started 30-15 and were actually outscoring their opponents, before failing to finish the season with a winning record.

The Indians and their fans should treasure this time, because those 118 games will most likely not be as kind and will be filled with announcers talking about how “they just can’t get the big hit like they did earlier in the year.” Derek Lowe has walked more hitters than he has struck out, has a 1.41 WHIP, and is leading the AL in ERA. What could possibly go wrong?

I did not use just the MLB ERA thus far this season. I went back on Balseball-Reference.com and looked at MLB-wide ERAs going back to 1901. The most recent trend in ERAs has been downward. That is based on 20 years’ data, not 8 weeks’ data. Also, I didn’t say that the trend will continue through this season. You and paperlions pointed out reasons why it may not.

Good thing for the Indians they have 118 more games to try and prove your thoughts wrong.

The ump was highly inconsistent on the corners, but the bottom of the zone was a ball most of the night.

All good so far. The mistake was going inside for that fiasco of a ballgame. Craig duly consigned the Feesh boolpen – in this case, Ryan Webb and Mike Dunn – to their deserved perdition. Alex Fernandez’ Strike Zone batting and pitching practice indoor camp is just down the street from me and none of his machines are as obliging as those two were last night.

However, what the bubble pipe king did not tell you – and your best friends won’t either, but I will – is that the entire team played like a bunch of clowns. During the sixth inning, when the wheels – er, rudders – came off the Feesh, they were booting balls – Greg Dobbs kicked Blanco’s single into the pits of center field and gifted a triple out of it (why the official scorer didn’t call it an error is beyond me; you’d think he would worry about winding up like Shyam Das with that sort of generosity); Brett Hayes and the Hanster conspired, a play later, to botch a rundown of Blanco between third and home on what would have been a double-play ball if Blanco had still been on first; Anibal Sanchez threw a bunch of wild peetches allowing a runner to score and two others to advance; bloops were falling in so blatantly that you could actually see the lines of karmic force guiding them to where they ain’t. A few innings later Tweeter had to throw himself on his ass to avoid being brained by an incoming peg from the Iron Giant. The Giant thought it was funny. It didn’t look like Tweeter did.

Speaking of the Iron Giant, the high point of the game was the line drove rail gun shot he crushed into the Budwiser Bowtie Bar in dead center field. It was over in seconds. I have to check the speed on that one. It’s always good to watch Tommy light up, spit up, and generally behave like Jake Gyllenhaal’s Christmas Party dance in Jarhead. He popped out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, though.

I promised APBA guy some impressions of the Jints. Well, they’re opportunistic, and presented with a lineup of Killer Klowns from Outer Space they took all the advantage and had all the fun they could. I don’t think Melky Cabrera is going to stay this hot, but I was mainly there because I’d never seen Vogelsong pitch before. The Feesh made him throw a lot of peetches – 36 in the first two innings – and waited on him pretty well before they came apart, but he stuck it out before tiring in the sixth. Blanco impressed me, though – he’s fast and aggressive, or at least was tonight.

But the most interesting stuff going down at that game was the Feesh ineptitude. And Why Ozzie would play .118-hitting Chris Coghlan when he had .173 hitting Bryan Petersen on the bench is beyond me. BTW Coghlan went 0-4 last night. He’s toast. Wet toast. Finished. Kaput. Time to think seriously about selling shoes.

It seemed like every picther was worn down by the heat. Plus Blanton sucks

You used data from the last 5 years. That makes for a better argument.

Its also May, and hitting numbers go up in the heat of summer time, just as they are suppressed in the cold of spring.

Using 40 some games to determine the outcome of a season seems like an uneccessary exercise.

Of course, doing it your way would mean that Cole Hamels and Lance Lynn will split the Cy Young vote with 28 wins each.