Indians clubhouse
In a Thursday night win over the Mariners, Indians fans were able to see what's right, what's wrong and what's in question with the Indians.
What's right
- The bullpen remains the strength of the team. Scott Sauerbeck gave up a 3-run homer tonight that tied the contest in the seventh, but the pen responded to the setback with two scoreless innings.
- Suddenly, Eric Wedge is using his bench. Brandon Phillips pinch runs in the seventh, and Jose Hernandez pinch hits and drives in a run with two down. The Indians manufactured the winning run with sound strategy after a misplayed double.
-Starting pitching (save C.C Sabathia) is doing what they need to do. Like the 1990 Reds, they can pitch into the seventh, leave with a lead, and rest assured the pen will take care of it. Most of the time.

What's Wrong
- Jhonny Peralta has been compared to Derek Jeter. Hitting-wise, that's true. But defensively, he's still not there. The popup that ended up costing Cliff Lee a victory should never happen at that level. The softball team that I play on would have been ashamed of such an error. Peralta and Ronnie Belliard did the unthinkable: they allowed someone else to go after the ball, rather than take charge. Sadly, they BOTH came to this conclusion.
Jhonny then threw a ball high to first in the ninth, giving the Mariners another chance to comeback.
I still think Peralta will eventually be shifted to third, a traditionally easier position.
-Casey Blake's continued presence in the lineup is becoming a running joke. He came up in the eighth with Phillips on third and one out, and struck out on three pitches. It's getting to the point where one has to think his presence in the clubhouse is so positive that pulling him from the lineup would lead to a mass revolt from the players.

What's in question
Jose Hernandez has been hitting better than a third of the Indians lineup, but still does not see playing time every day. I know he was brought in as a bench player, but can he really do worse than Blake or Dubois?
-Why is Brandon Phillips on the roster? Yes, Wedge deserves marks for inserting him as a pinch runner, but this much is clear:
A) He's not going to get many at-bats.
B) He looks totally unprepared at the major league level. He batted in the ninth, saw three pitches, swung at all of them and retreated to the dugout.