Fire Wedge

“RESPECT THE GAME” Words Cleveland Indians Manager Eric Wedge says repeatedly.

“RESPECT THE GAME” Words athletes should live by.

“RESPECT THE GAME” Something Shapiro should do and FIRE WEDGE!

I’m done. I’ve backed Wedge for six years now and he’s done nothing but underachieve and let Cleveland fans down. Somebody needs to be held responsible for the Indians failures and Wedge is that someone.

One of Wedges’ biggest faults is his inability to win early in the season.

Now in his seventh season, Wedge has led his team to just one winning record after the first 20 games in a season. And to make it worse, his teams are a combined 29-41 for the first 10 games in a season. That’s a wimpy .414 winning percentage.

The slow starts are exhausting and they destroy team chemistry. It’s always easier to win games when you start off with an early lead, and it’s the same for the season.

I’m sure everybody remembers Wedges' one and only playoff experience. The Indians knocked the Yankees out (which is definitely the highlight of Wedges' stay in Cleveland) but what he did next is what I remember. He blew a 3-1 series lead against the Red Sox in the ALCS, but it didn’t stop there. The next season the Indians followed up with an 81-81 record. They went from being one of the best teams in the league to a .500 team. The way he lost in his only playoff appearance is terrible but the way he followed up the next season is just un-excusable.

I believe its time to give Joel Skinner a shot at fixing this season before its too late. Something has to be done and Wedge isn’t going to do it. Step up to the plate Mr. Shapiro, I know he’s your buddy, but it’s time for Wedge to go. You’ve given him plenty of talent to work with for the past 6 seasons and he’s done nothing with it. When will Wedge be held accountable?

Indians are Worst in MLB. Nobody Cares.

Let's face it. The Cleveland Indians suck. Period. We can't hit. We can't score runs. We can't put a single run on the board for our ace. We can't throw out runners in a close game. We can't hold runners. We can't hold leads. We can't save games. It's May and while the season isn't anywhere near over, it will be very soon if things don't completely turn around. We are talking 180 degrees. Is that going to happen? Not likely.

With all that said, our question is this: Who cares?!

Don't get us wrong, we don't enjoy it when when one of our teams is the WORST TEAM in their respective sport (as of this morning). We don't appreciate the fact that the Washington Nationals are making the Indians look like a AAA ball club.

It's the simple fact that the team playing across the street at Quicken Loans Arena has all but erased the Indians and their many struggles from the minds of Cleveland sports fans with their flawless execution on offense and defense. Does anybody really care that Grady Sizemore struck out 3 times when LeBron James is putting up 47 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in one of his best playoff performances ever? At this point, the Indians could call up 15 players from AAA Columbus and trade all of their struggling veterans and few would even notice. Ok, so we would notice. But would we care?

Game 4 is tonight and the Cavs have a chance to sweep the Hawks and go 8-0 after winning the first 7 games by double digits. There is nothing else on the mind of Cleveland sports fans today. We care only about witnessing what LeBron James is going to do as an encore to Saturday's showcase. We don't care if Eric Wedge will still be sitting on the bench wearing an Indians hat at the end of the week. Rumors are already starting to heat up indicating that Wedgie's days may be numbered with the Tribe. If Eric Wedge gets a pink-slip we will wish him well and thank him for his services right after we check the stat sheet to see how close LeBron came to a triple-double the night before.

Is that too harsh? It might be. But it's the truth.