His hopes for the Indians for 2010:

"… we play in one of the most balanced if not the most balanced division in the Big Leagues, which if you look at it over the last three, four years, a different team has won it.  So hey, we're going to Spring Training thinking why not us?"

On whether those hopes are realistic:

"Obviously we were in the middle of the pack without having Grady for the whole season and Travis Hafner.  So we're very excited about our potential."

The main team needs:

"It's pretty clear that we do need better pitching.  That was kind of the problem last year, and I think it's a general problem.  I think a lot of people are looking for pitching.  But we do have some guys, Jake Westbrook is coming back, and he's a solid guy when he's healthy.  We're hoping to help Fausto back, and Masterson is going to be in full season in the starting rotation."

Who plays in left field:

"We have options.  We can use Michael Brantley, and LaPorta can also play left field.  We have those options.  Jordan Brown is having a really good winter ball in Venezuela, so we have options.  Trevor Crowe, that's another guy who's going in to compete for a spot.  We like our options out there."

Who plays first base:

"If the season were to start today and everything was normal, we're looking at guys like LaPorta, Jordan Brown, but we're also looking through the free agent market to see if we can find a first baseman.  You know, we have a few months to go yet, and some guys are going to be out there. In the ideal world, we'd probably want guys to get those at‑bats."

Where does Andy Marte fit:

"He's going to come to camp and we'll have to make a decision.  He's one of our options (for first base), too."

On Fausto Carmona:

"Fausto is pitching in winter ball.  He just threw three innings two days ago, and we got good reports.  He threw the ball well, and he's going to continue to pitch through the winter.  He felt that that helped him in the past, and he wanted to go work on some things.    We're going down there next week and watch him pitch and talk to him and get him in the right frame of mind."

On Travis Hafner:

" … our plan is he's going to get days off here and there but nothing as he was in the past where he couldn't play a certain amount of games in a row.  Our plan is we need this guy.  This guy is a bat in the middle of our order.  If he's fine, I'm looking to have him out there as many games as possible."

Who pitches the eighth and ninth innings:

"Kerry (Wood) is without a doubt is our closer.  Well, the plan that we're designing right now with Belch (pitching coach Tim Belcher) is that we're anticipating having a better start and playing good.  So even when we hit a rough spot, we're not going to let (Wood) sit for, let's say, more than three days at a time, and also talking to Belch, it's not going to be a problem.  Woody is a guy who's going to be able to get the four‑out save and stuff like that.  So that's our plan going in.  Use him not only in save situations but when we have to try to keep him sharp. And Chris (Perez) obviously pitched very well the second half of the season.  And going into camp, we're counting on him to handle that eighth inning there."

On Grady Sizemore's pictures that were circulate on the internet:

"I haven't seen them, because that's really not going to help me win one more game.  (Laughter). I've never seen them.  Why would I want to see them?  If I want to see any of my players, I'll just walk in the showers after the game.  I think it's sad, people using stuff like that to basically get into people's private lives.  But you have to be aware of it."

On the Indians overall:

"They need what the other 29 need, pitching.  I mean, you talk to everybody here in the lobby, and everybody is looking for pitching.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist.  If you finished last in pitching, you're not going to win.  You just can't shrug people away in the Big Leagues."

Send her running and screaming from the room, that's what it'd do.

I mean …. I must live in a completely separate reality from some others.

Cliff Lee pitched outstanding, but Kerry Wood – the guy brought in to solve the late-inning problems of a year ago – blew a save and the Indians dropped to 14-26, worst in the American League and better only than the miserable Washington Nationals.

This is the kind of season that gets people fired. Managers. Players. Even the front office.

There's really no sign that things are going to get better. Some days the starters do well and the bullpen fails. Some days the pitching goes right and the hitters don't hit. This night things went perfect and were set up for the big-time closer, but he failed. Right now the Indians project to lose 105 games. Which is just one miserable summer.

The moves and constant moves and lineup shuffling reveal the Indians for what they are – a team in search of a solution but finding none. Standing pat with guys not doing the job won't help a lot, but the solutions tried aren't real solutions. Manager Eric Wedge reflects the philosophy of trying anything. His lineups have the consistency of jello.

Jamey Carroll is at second one game, Luis Valbuena another. The shortstop-third base thing with Jhonny Peralta is bizarre; moves like that are for spring training, no? Mark DeRosa has played third and first, which has moved Ryan Garko from first to left, and that's just not sound thinking to play Garko in left. Garko finds himself yo-yoed all over the lineup after leading the team in RBI last season. Matt LaPorta is called up and does not play every day. And David Huff struggled in his first start; why is it that some pitchers in their first start confound the opposition because the opposition hasn't seen them, yet Huff got rocked?

Rosters are made for guys to be used, but guys also need to know their roles. Right now even Victor Martinez's role is all over the board. Catcher one day, first another. All to keep Kelly Shoppach happy and give him time. The Indians have to use everyone at some point; if they didn't they'd have a 16-man pitching staff (which might be a necessity by July). But it seems past time to stop the shifts that resemble panic, and settle on an order.

The move of Grady Sizemore from leadoff put him all the way to second in the order. I know there are reasons for him hitting second, but what's the big difference in that move? Putting him third makes a change, shakes things up. This talk about doing it to take pressure off Sizemore and putting him back at leadoff once he gets going sounds like kid gloves. The guy's not been very good this year (which actually might be the counter-argument to hitting him third). Everyone likes Sizemore, but giving him a foot in the hindquarters doesn't end his baseball career.

Right now the Indians seem to be grabbing smoke with their belief that the team is better than it's played.

Rock bottom pretty much stinks.

Let's do the math. The Indians have lost nearly twice as many as they've won, and if they want to win 90 games they'll have to finish the season 79-51. That's 28 games over .500, and a .607 pace. It can be done, I guess. But last season, one team — the Los Angeles Dodgers — finished with a won-lost percentage better than .607. Silver lining: Many thought 86 games might win the division, so that means the Indians only need to go 75-55. Hoo hoo.

So far the Indians have tried a lot of moves to make things work. None have worked. This weekend the players backed manager Eric Wedge. All that's left, really, is the vote of confidence.

To scapegoat Wedge for this fiasco is probably not fair. Clearly, it's not all his fault.

But … at some point in every struggling team's existence the manager takes the fall, be it deserved or not. At some point the losses might become too much, and some kind of move might be necessary just to change the chemistry and the approach.

Nobody knows when that point will come — and personally I'd be shocked if Wedge were fired given how close he and GM Mark Shapior are — but the questions become: At what point does everything add up to a manager being fired? And if Wedge is fired, who replaces him?

Two years ago Wedge was the AL Manager of the Year. He's not gotten stupid in two years, but his team is not playing well either. And it comes on the heels of 2008, when another bad start relegated the Indians to "playing for pride" most of the second half. Poor Aprils have become a trend, and the inconsistency of the bullpen from year to year is maddening.

That being said, Wedge didn't solely pick the starting rotation, didn't solely pick the bullpen, didn't solely pick the every-day players either. Two years ago the Indians looked to be a team on the rise, with plenty of young , talented hitters. Now they look  slow, plodding, and are playing as if they were all overrated.

Grady Sizemore is the least of the Indians problems, but he's hitting .227. He's struck out 36 times, which ranks him third in the American League. Third. Silver lining: Jhonny Peralta has struck out fewer times. He's fourth in the AL with 34. I know Sizemore has talent and he gets on base a lot, but he seems emblematic of things to me: How in the world can a guy touted by so many to be so good (remember that SI cover) be hitting .227 with 36 strikeouts?

Let's be honest … at some point these players have to live up to expectations, or it's time to really and truly start over with the roster. And it's appearing that the re-start is rising on the horizon.

Whether that re-start includes Wedge depends on how the Indians front office views the troubles, whether they feel a change in approach might change the chemistry and change the results. A new manager isn't going to add speed or make players what they're not, but a new approach can be a spark. A managerial could happen, but I'd be surprised if it does happen.

Firing a manager is not a pleasant topic, but it's also part of baseball. If Mike Hargrove could get fired by the Indians, anyone can. It's just hard to fathom this team being 11-21 after starting the season with what seemed like legitimately high hopes.

A good friend I've never actually met but have communicated with frequently, Geoff Beckman of the Tribe Report, pointed out that Sizemore's walk and strikeout totals are high because teams pitch around him. In past years when there was no capable No. 2 hitter, teams did not give Sizemore a lot to hit. This is an argument to perhaps move Sizemore to third in the order as opposed to leadoff. That has its appealing qualities, but it also means that the Indians have to find a new leadoff hitter.

Beckman also pointed out that certain pitchers abuse Sizemore. For example, he's hit .205 with 13Ks in 46 at-bats against Javier Vasquez, and .194 with 11 Ks in 41 at-bats against Gil Meche. Perhaps, Beckman theorizes, Sizemore should just sit against them.

Beckman studies this a lot more than me, so I'm not one to question his assessment. He also said that Sizemore's on-base percentage and career OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) of .861 show his value.

For the record, I do not think Sizemore is a problem. Clearly he's one of the few non-problems on the Indians. I just think he should hit for a higher average (provided he's not pitched around) and strike out less.

But for the heck of it I went to a site called fangraphs.com and got some fundamental information on Sizemore.

This first one shows his batting average through the years, compared to the league average. Clearly he's not getting better:

Even his on-base percentage is hovering near average this season:

 His slugging percentage, though, is well above the norm – I'm guessing thanks to his ability to hit home runs.

And he clearly walks a lot more than the average player. This supports the claim teams pitch around him, and also demonstrates part of his value because the guy does get on base a lot.

However, his strikeouts are higher than the league average. Although last year he seemed to do a better job of putting the ball in play, this year he's not.

His walk-to-strikeout ratio was trending the wrong way, but is back in line with the average player.

Another whose insights I respect greatly agreed with me: "On a pleasant spring afternoon, there's nothing quite like a well-played baseball game to pass the time away. And, folks, that was nothing like a well-played game."

All that being said, the Indians won, they needed to win, and the alternative would have been really bad. At this point, any win the Indians get is a good one — and there is a lot to be said for the way Anthony Reyes, Jensen Lewis and Kerry Wood pitched. In truth, that game showed what the Indians were supposed to be this season.

Grady Sizemore hit a grand saluki, or salami, or whatever it is. Victor Martinez had a big game. Jhonny Peralta and Kelly Shoppach drove in two. And Cliff Lee pitched like the Cliff Lee of 2008 instead of the one we've been watching. All good signs.

They say there is no momentum in baseball. Too many games. Especially with Eric Wedge always stressing "separating" and "separation" and "separate." But sometimes a good feeling can carry over. The Indians have that chance with this win, because it was what can be categorized as a "good win."

Forevermore, the team that won the first game in Yankees Stadium will be the Cleveland Indians.

Maybe, just maybe, this will get them going.