INDIANS 101

Baseball is a long season, and people always say don't judge a team by a stretch of games in a 162 game season. It is tough trying not to worry about the Indians last series against the Cincinnati Reds where they were swept, and their recent series loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

All season long questions loomed about the Indians hitting, and whether their starting rotation could repeat their success of last season. So far, the Indians offense has been hard to watch outside of Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Kipnis, and Michael Brantley. Shin-Soo Choo has picked up his game over the past month since being moved into the lead off role. The major problem lies at the bottom half of the Indians batting order, where a .200 batting average is high for some of their hitters. This lack of production from the bottom of the order really puts a lot of pressure on the top of the order to get on base, and essentially score their own runs with the long ball.

The Indians lack severe power and average in left field, where they platoon Johnny Damon, Aaron Cunningham, and Shelley Duncan. The other hole the Indians need to fill is first base, where they signed veteran Casey Kotchman in the off season. Casey has never been known for his power, but he is coming off his best career season as he hit .300 for the Tampa Bay Rays. Not only is Casey still not hitting for power, but his average is way down as well. Because the Indians generally have a lefty heavy batting line up, they have also struggled against lefty pitchers this season.

The Indians starting rotation has been a mirage from last season, with Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin still trying to find their groove from last season. Ubaldo Jiminez is still looking for his groove from his breakout half season with the Colorado Rockies back in 2010.

Yes, plenty of games are still on the schedule, but if these glaring holes are not fixed soon, the Indians will be booking their off season vacations in July.

Tags: Asdrubal Cabrera, Baseball, Casey Kotchman, Cleveland, Cleveland Indians, Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, MLB, Pittsburgh Pirates, Shin-Soo Choo, Ubaldo Jimenez

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