Mariners @ Indians, 4/28/08

What a difference a day makes.

Even though the Tribe split with the Yankees, I was actually pretty happy with how that series went. The 1-0 loss could be the very definition of a "positive loss," as it add support to the theory that C.C. has worked out his issues and is back to the C.C. of old. I'll gladly take one loss if it means we've got Sabathia back in form.

The second loss was simply bad luck, but yet another good showing by a young pitcher. It seems like Laffey will be rewarded with more starts at the big league level, too.

Of course the lack of offense was discouraging, but I was willing to give the opposing pitchers the benefit of the doubt.

And then last night happened.

While I'm still apprehensive about Carmona's no found love of walking people, it was yet another wasted pitching performance.

As many have pointed out, a big part of our offensive woes is Travis Hafner. I'll take that a step further. He's actually gone from not being a threat to being an easy out. That's how bad it's gotten. And I simply can't figure it out.

He can't be seeing the ball, at least not clearly. He swings at things that are clearly out of the zone from the very start, yet let's obvious strikes go right by. It's baffling.

Even more baffling is Franklin Gutierrez, who is now 7 for 16 in this homestand. Why is he unable to hit on the road? And it's not even that hits poorly on the road and hits well at home. He hits for SQUAT on the road and hits GREAT at home.

Michaels needs to be let go. Dellucci needs to be in the line-up every day and he needs to bat second. When Choo returns next month, he needs to platoon with Gutierrez, obviously making a lot of starts on the road.

Then what do you do with guys like Peralta and Garko? They're two sides to the same coin, either hot or cold. How do you break such streakiness?

And, if you're going to put Marte in and move Blake to first to sit Garko, shouldn't you make a similar move to sit Hafner? It would seem to make sense to get Shoppach behind the plate and let Martinez DH periodically until Pronk figures out what's wrong.

It's almost May. We're going to end the first month under .500. It's probably time to start making some moves.