That makes sense...?

And now it's all becoming clear.

Or at least some of it.

I think.

So Victor Martinez is on the DL and will be out for the next six weeks at least. Evidently he -- and Travis Hafner -- have been playing hurt all year, as evidenced by the numbers (as well as Victor started, he hasn't hit for power at all this year).

The power outage from our big two actually explains a lot about the rest of the line-up, too.

You can tell that Ryan Garko, Jhonny Peralta, and Franklin Gutierrez were all swinging through the ball, as if they needed to show more power since Victor and Pronk weren't showing any. Add to that the sophomore slump from Cabrera, and that's 2/3 of our line-up right there.

And while Wedge might argue that an injured Martinez in the line-up is better than no Martinez at all, I don't think that's true, particularly given the events of last night.

Sure, we're a better team with Victor -- we're a much better team. But we have a catcher that other teams have been trying to trade from us for their starter, a guy who can call a good game and, while he'll never hit for average the way Victor can, has good power. So why not put that guy in every day until Victor is healthy?

It also seems that Ryan Garko and, to a lesser extent, Franklin Gutierrez learned from their early season mistakes and are back to hitting like we know they can, like they should. Clearly, Jhonny's a bit behind the curve on that one, but Garko went to Stanford.

It probably didn't hurt matters that both Garko and Gutierrez saw their time dwindle with call-ups.

And what about those call-ups? Our top two hitters are Shin Soo Choo and Ben Francisco. Who knew?

One other positive side effect of the injuries: we now have the most consistent hitting infielder on our team in the line-up every day. Could Jamey Carroll keep this job? It's possible, although in three games in Buffalo Cabrera is already hitting .333 -- and he was shut out in one of those three games. Clearly, that's a man who was forcing the issue in Cleveland and is hitting just fine with the pressure off.

So can the Tribe win with 40% of their starters on the DL (one until next year), 33% of their roster on the DL, and an ineffective bullpen? Strangely enough, I think so, and I was about to suggest selling the farm when Victor went down.

If the offense can keep hitting, I think we have a real shot at being competitive. But I think we need to make a few more changes. They are:

1) Grady Sizemore needs to move down the order. I know that will be hard for a lot of people because we all love the "unique" aspect of having Grady up there. But our HOME RUN LEADER shouldn't be in the lead off spot. Grady is evolving into a true #3 and every game just hammers this point home. With the team low on power, it just makes sense to move him.

1a) Consider this my first official foray into the "Jamey Carroll for lead off" campaign.

2) Whichever of the four great, young outfielders doesn't play in the field should DH. They need all the at bats they can get and while I appreciate the desire for experience in the line-up, Dellucci isn't exactly knocking the cover off the ball lately. Let the kids get some hacks in there.

3) Might I suggest sticking with (at the very least) this for the next week (at least):

1. Carroll
2. Francisco
3. Sizemore
4. Garko

I'd love to see what that top of the order could do day in and day out for a week or so.

As for the bullpen, well, if our offense plays well then we can concentrate on making a deal for relief. And while I think our problems are across the board in there (aside from Perez, who's been good lately, and Elarton, who has pitched out of his head lately), Huston Street should be on our radar. Peter Gammons mentions a few weeks back that the A's have a new closer in waiting and that they'd probably be willing to trade Street even if they were still in contention. He specifically named the Tribe as a team that would benefit from a guy like Street, which is the god's honest truth. The concern, of course, is that Street can be somewhat delicate physically, but I'll take a lights out closer every third day than Borowski every second day.

We'd still be in a pinch for set-up guys. We really need Betancourt to turn it around, let alone Lewis in Buffalo. But with the additon of Street we'd at least have long relief in Elarton, a lefty in Perez, and set-up in Masa, to go with a dominant closer.

I'd take that.

And now, let the abomination that is interleague play begin!