When it comes to the Aeros and umpires, it has not been a good start to the season. First-year manager Mike Sarbaugh has been ejected three times in the first month - including recent back-to-back games, and right fielder Ryan Goleski was tossed after an ugly incident near the end of Tuesday night’s game.

In all fairness to Sarbaugh and Goleski, the umpiring the first couple of weeks of play has been inconsistent at best. The definition of a strike zone has not only ranged from umpire to umpire, but rather frustratingly at times, inning to inning, as well.

Still, Goleski appears to have crossed the line Tuesday when he bumped an umpire - maybe even twice, depending whom you talk to - after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes by home plate umpire Doug Levy.

Tempers began to flare in the second inning when Goleski (batting .216 in 28 games) was rung up on a boarder line strike three in the second inning. Some jawing ensued, but Goleski eventually went into the dugout peacefully and play resumed.

However, come the bottom of ninth inning with the bases loaded, one out and the host trailing 3-0, Goleski was once again caught looking for strike three on a pitch down and away and appearantly out of a normal strike zone. He immediately turned to argue, obviously said something he shouldn’t have and was quickly ejected.

But this time, Goleski did not go without incident. As he argued angrily, and appeared to chest bump Levy. Other witnesses said at one point Goleski got so close to the umpire again, that he touched him with the brim of his helmet hitting Levy on the bridge of the nose.

”I don’t know what it is with the umpires,” Sarbaugh said recently regarding his ejections, noting he was thrown out three or four times all of last season at high Class-A Kinston. “They used to give you a little bit of a warning to let you know you’re getting close. But now, I’m not getting that. I guess I’m just going to have change my ways.”

Perhaps the worst part of Goleski’s ejection is that Eastern League president Joe McEacharn happened to be visiting Canal Park, watching from behind home plate in the stands.

By the time Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Altoona Curve got underway, there was no word on whether a suspension would be handed down. However, Goleski was not in the lineup and did not play.

Infielder Brian Finegan was struggling offensively through the first month of the season - that is until he got a fire lit under him in facing his old teammates.

Finegan, a former Indians minor leaguer who was released in spring training and picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates, began to find his stroke just as rivals Altoona and Akron began to face each other recently.

The teams met each other for the first time this season in Altoona April 21-23 and find themselves matched up again in a series at Canal Park Monday through Thursday.

Batting just .136 overall in 18 games with the Curve, five of Finegan’s hits have come against the Aeros - including a 3-for-4 effort that went for naught as the Aeros topped the visitors 9-4 Monday at Canal Park.

After singling in his first two at-bats against former Class-A Kinston teammate and pitcher Kevin Dixon, Finegan (the Indians 15th selection in the 2004 draft), tried to start a two-out rally with another single in the eighth against another former Kinston mate in right-hander J.D. Martin.

When the Altoona rally was short-circuited, the Aeros responded with a seven-run eighth inning to come-from-behind and put the game away for good.

Ironically, on the other end of a similar situation as Finegan, is current Aeros utility man Brandon Chaves - a former four-year Altoona player who signed as free agent in the off season with the Indians.

“It was really weird facing them the first time in Altoona,” Chaves said. “But that’s just the way baseball is.”

Left-hander Chuck Lofgren put his best outing of the season on display Thursday morning in the Aeros 6-2 victory over visiting Erie.

Despite entering the game winless at 0-2 and carrying a hefty 8.66 ERA, the 22-year old left-hander limited the aggressive SeaWolves to a run on six hits, issuing walks to three batters while striking out nine over six strong innings.

“That’s nine strikeouts against a pretty good lineup,” said Indians farm director Ross Atkins, who was on hand Thursday to see for himself Lofgren’s fifth start this season. “Chuck’s had some issues with his release point, but today he was consistent and had a better pitch distribution than he did in his previous outing.”

Lofgren’s nine strikeouts, one shy his career high, marked the most hitters he’s fanned since striking out 10 Lynchburg Hillcats on Aug. 3, 2006 while pitching for high Class-A Kinston.

“Chuck’s been working hard since spring training on maintaining a consistent release point,” Aeros pitching coach Tony Arnold said. “His last two starts, he’s thrown the ball better, but would got hurt when he’d leave a ball up.

“This time, he was able to maintain his focus. He still had spurts where he got behind in the count to a couple guys, but he was able to make the pitch he needed to make - twice with their best hitter at the plate.”