Well, the Indians did the unbelievable and didn't win the Wild Card. I guess they finally realized "Cleveland" was part of their name. Once again, there was no hitting today. It seems after that Sizemore error last Sunday, the team figured they would waltz in and win maybe four of the six remaining home games and that didn't happen, as they only got one.

I don't think it's that difficult to figure out what went wrong. Look at the teams in the American League that basically played out of their asses for long stretches of time this year. Chicago, Oakland, Cleveland and the Yankees. I think these teams have to stay mentally tough for so long, that eventually they crash. Chicago had their streak in the first 90 games and that's an incredible amount of time to maintain that high level of play. Don't forget, this was the team that was supposedly going to commit one of the biggest flameouts ever and they recovered nicely over the last two weeks of the season and took us to the woodshed this weekend. Unfortunately for Oakland, their streak of good play ended at the end of August and they didn't even win 90 games. The Yankees have not really stopped yet, but I expect a meltdown in the playoffs.

The Indians? Well, you can't blame the pitchers. They held up all year. It seemed that the top of our lineup was sucking wind over the last week or so. And we had no hitting with men on base. Some really eager hitting in unexpected situations didn't help things either. And our high level of play really ended with that KC game a week ago.

BTW, here is what I wrote on Opening Day for the Tribe:

Today is Opening Day for baseball and trust me when I tell ya, I think the Indians are gonna contend. Not for the whole thing, but they can make a run at the division title. Here's why:

The Royals are bad. Detroit is improved. The White Sox dumped a lot of power. The Twins had to let go of some core players for the first time in a while.

But the main thing the Tribe has this year is depth. Both on the pitching staff and the bench. Yeah, I know they are doing it on the cheap and we have Casey Blake in the outfield, but it's a solid bunch.

Starting Pitching: C.C. is OK. A healthy (key word is healthy) Millwood is an improvement. I like Cliff Lee and he should be fine. Not sold on a repeat from Westbrook. A fifth starter is a fifth starter.

Bullpen: A veteran bunch. A healthy Wickman would be tremendous. Veteran setup men: Howry, Riske, Rhodes, Sauerbeck. Not bad.

Position Players: Hafner and Martinez are very good. Aaron Boone makes me more comfortable than Casey Blake. Belliard turns the DP very well, and I think a decent-hitting Peralta would be OK at short. Sizemore and Ludwick should be an OK platoon. Not a big fan of Coco Crisp, but he's improved his offense each of the last three years, but I may have a better arm than him. And you just know the ball will find Casey Blake in rightfield, you just know it. Bench of Cora and Hernandez gives Wedge more flexibility than he's had, now let's see him earn those contract extensions.

(Maybe I should have gone to Vegas? Not after mentioning Ludwick, however.)

Meal of Links

Trouble will always find Pete Doherty. It's like it knows his forwarding address before he does.

The new Franz Ferdinand record is out this week. Lots of good buzz.

Chief Justice Roberts starts tomorrow. I wonder if he fills out paperwork for a half a day before he starts Chief Justicin'.

Exercise Yard

Was any one surprised that Rock Hard Ten won the Goodwood Handicap race at Santa Anita? I didn't think so.

Visitor

None, it was a sucky Sunday for the Tribe.