Travis Hafner talked to the media for the first time since he went on the disabled list in May, and he said his right shoulder is at 50 percent strength. That doesn’t sound too promising, but Hafner actually said his shoulder has improved a good amount the past couple weeks.

“It’s been getting stronger every week,” he said. “Ten or 20 percent every week in the strength tests. Right now we’re pretty hopeful that we can start swinging the bat in a couple weeks.”

It would have been nice to hear Hafner say the shoulder injury went back to last year’s playoffs because it might have explained his struggles, but he said it started first in spring training. Things became intolerable in May. At that point, he could not use his right arm for anything. He called it “helpless.”

The injury itself sounds pretty weird, a word even Hafner used. He said there is no structural problem, but that weakness and instability in the shoulder caused his rotator cuff and scapula muscle to just shut down. It would seem like a nerve problem led to this difficulty, but Hafner said determining the cause would be speculation. He said he hopes to return this year – for some part of the season.

Manager Eric Wedge, meanwhile, addressed the media pretty directly about the pregame meeting he held with his team. My translation of Wedge’s words: Grow up, forget what’s happened, play like a professional. He might have been kinder, of course, but the 10-game winning streak the Indians brought home obviously indicated the team had a bit of a hangdog approach.

Here are some of Wedge’s comments:

On the team: “They’re the ones that have to go out and play. They’re the ones that have to go out and execute. They’re the ones that have to come here with the attitude and the approach that we’re accustomed to, and that’s a winning attitude. That’s a winning edge.”

On being down about the trade of C.C. Sabathia: “I understand it. I do. But that’s done. Now we move on and play baseball.”

On the losing streak: “It weighs on you. You wear it. You’re supposed to. You wear it individually and you wear it as a ballclub. But you can’t let it get you down. You can’t.”

On the team, again: “I don’t assume anything, but I don’t worry about the effort of this ballclub because I know they’re going to show up and get after it. I know they give a damn. I know they care about each other. I know they respect the game. Because those are things we just wouldn’t put up with. And they know that. So I don’t worry about that. But, I don’t want their heads down, I don’t want them thinking about things they shouldn’t think about.”

It almost seems like the Indians should wipe the slate clean, tell the team to mentally approach the games like the record is 0-0. It’s lame, but it’s what the Indians have at the moment. A team has to hang its hat on something, right?

And … if Wedge wanted to see a different approach and attitude, Thursday’s big win over Tampa was a good start.

As for Yellowstone, here are some random shots .. including an elk staring at the silly humans, a couple scenes taken by my 12-year-old daughter and a pronghorn adult and child.

The first time I saw the Indians this season they were getting beat badly by Detroit and making stupid plays, like Victor Martinez tagging the plate as a runner came home when there was no forceout because there were runners at second and third. Wednesday I watched them and again they did not do things well. Errors, poor at-bats at key times, poor pitching. This team does not have the same aura it had last season, and nobody is stepping forward to take charge and say the nonsense has to stop. Their manager is trying ,but the thing about having so many even-keeled personalities is that the same guys who are all so humble when things are going well are quiet when they are not. There is no dominant personality in the clubhouse to stand up and say enough. Manager Eric Wedge is trying, but the manager can’t always get that done.

Much of this, in my mind at least, is summed up by the situation with Rafael Betancourt. A year ago, he was unhittable, and he did it by throwing nothing but fastballs, most often on the outside corner. This year, he’s not as sharp, and not as good. So he’s being hit. Players are sitting on the outside fastball. The Indians want him to adjust and start pounding the strike zone inside to get hitters wary. Eric Wedge said Betancourt has the command to do this because he’s throwing outside to lefties and righties. Well Betancourt entered Wednesday’s game against Chicago with a two-run lead, got a free out when the White Sox bunted, then gave up three runs (two charged to Rafael Perez). It wasn’t pretty, and Wedge was plenty angry after the game.

He had a rare occasion when he actually criticized a player by name publicly. He pretty much blistered Betancourt. He said he and Carl Willis have repeatedly asked Betancourt to pitch inside, and he’s not doing it. “There are no excuses,” Wedge said, clearly exasperated. He added: "There's nothing he can say that can make any sense. What you're seeing and what's happening is real.” And he also said: “It's nothing I haven't said to him or Carl hasn't said to him 100 times.” This clearly was a manager exasperated with his pitcher and trying a new way to get his message through.

Betancourt tried to address the situation calmly, saying he would pitch inside and that the issue is being brought up because he’s not throwing good pitches. He has said he does not feel like he has good command, so he’s not making good pitches. Betancourt, though, did not seem to be on the same page as Wedge. Word is after he was done talking to the media he could be heard screaming in the shower. Whether he was mad at himself, his manager or the situation is left for speculation. But it clearly showed a team that is reeling a bit right now.

The situation is bigger than one guy, though. The Indians are not hitting and their bullpen is struggling. They are not playing smart baseball. In the ninth inning they had runners on second and third with one out and Ben Francisco and Martinez coming up. Francisco, clearly overeager, popped up meekly to first. But Martinez swung at a high pitch and popped to shortstop. Wedge griped that both players swung at pitches they could not do anything with. Not smart baseball. The Indians simply are not carrying themselves like the same team that won the division a year ago.

Though there is plenty of time left in the season, the way things went Wednesday did not provide a lot of reason for optimism. A long road trip awaits. If the Indians have any mental fortitude at all, they will pull themselves out of this funk. They still have the best starting pitching in baseball, and the fact that all their hitters have gone south at the same time is a bizarre occurrence. They need another reliable hitter, and they need Travis Hafner to find himself, but the guys they have can hit. It will take a couple or three wins in a row to generate some confidence.

That’s what the Indians need most. A win or three in a row, some good games where they play smart and play well. The problem is they need one of those games to get anything started, and they sure didn’t get it on Wednesday.