Maybe the Indians should have kept a secret from Scott Lewis?

Maybe they should have never told him he will start the season in the big league rotation?

He hasn’t taken the news so well.

In his last two outings since being named a starter, Lewis has been roughed up, including yesterday’s 10 runs on 13 hits in 3 2/3 innings against the Mariners.

Sheldon Ocker picked a bad day to feature him.

The Southpaw used his media time after the game to blame the bad effort on slippery baseballs and bad grips in the dry Arizona air.

But as Anthony Castrovince points out in his blog, Lewis didn’t have that problem when he started the spring with a 3.52 ERA in five appearances.

In the last two outings Lewis has given up six home runs, two yesterday to Russell Branyan alone. You didn’t forget about ole’ Russ did you?

It’s not a matter of leaving the ball up and getting hammered. Lewis is getting hit hard when he keeps it low as well, according to Terry Pluto.

David Huff, Jeremy Sowers, Aaron Laffey or Kirk Saarloos better keep their bags packed in Columbus. They’ll be traveling to Cleveland soon enough.

The rest…

Mark Shapiro gave his state of the team address yesterday. Here it is in a nutshell:

The pitching is sketchy.
The White Sox are still the reigning champs in the central division.
The Twins have the best pitching by far in the division.
He believes in Hafner!
The depth in the minors has been the best it has been in years.

Here are some stories on it:
Anthony Castrovince
Paul Hoynes
Terry Pluto

Bud Shaw added to the growing collection of stories on Travis Hafner
Today. He wants Hafner to earn his spot in the middle of the order.

Like so many of the Indians’ spring training games, Tuesday’s 12-4 loss to the Mariners wasn’t pretty.

The good news for the Tribe: Masa Kobayashi worked a hitless inning, and Joe Smith pitched effectively, despite giving up one run and two hits in two innings. Smith didn’t issue a walk and struck out three.

As a sidearming right-hander, his teams have had issues with him facing left-handers, who get a longer look at the ball. Manager Eric Wedge would prefer to leave Smith in against an occasional lefty.

“We were hoping to have more of an opportunity to work on that this spring,” Wedge said. “But he got sick, and we weren’t really able to give him enough work. I feel he’s capable of getting lefties out, so we’ll work him into that.

“It was good to see him pitch two strong innings, especially in a sloppy game like this.”

Kobayashi has struggled for most of the spring, giving up 10 runs in 10 innings.

“We’ve had good, bad, good, bad from him,” Wedge said. “”He needs to run a couple of those good ones together.”

Wedge will use Kobayashi again today.

Scott Lewis gave up 10 runs and 13 hits in 3 2/3 innings and complained that the ball was slippery. That’s a common gripe in arid Arizona, but is it a reason to be that bad?

“He’s been scuffling with that his last couple of outings,” manager Wedge said. “”It’s not only him. You have a lot of that in Arizona.”

Lewis will stay in Arizona when the team leaves to throw on game against a minor-league team, trying to stay sharp for his first regular-season assignment, the Home Opener April 10.

SURPRISING RETURN — Juan Lara, 28, at one time a viable Tribe pitching prospect, has been signed to a minor-league contract and will begin a return to throw program in Goodyear.

After Lara suffered multiple injuries in a Nov., 2007, car accident, team officials did not expect him to pitch again. Nor did they know if he would ever make a complete physical recovery from a fractured arm, spine and ribs, a punctured lung and brain trauma.

The injuries were caused by a motorcyclist who broadsided Lara’s SUV when he was returning home from a Domican Republic winter league game.

At this point, nobody knows how far Lara can take his career.

MARCHING ONWARD — The Indians travel to Peoria to play the Mariners this afternoon. Cliff Lee will start against Felix Hernandez. Kerry Wood, Masa Kobayashi, Rafael Perez and Matt Herges will be in the bullpen.