Tribe starters still humming, but ...

The bullpen -- perhaps the Indians' greatest strength last year -- has been dreadful. And they're just not scoring runs, either. But let's tackle the bullpen first.

Fausto Carmona turned in 7 1/3 innings yesterday in Cincinnati, leaving with a 2-1 lead. His personal ERA for the day was 1.23. Rafael Perez came in and struck out Ken Griffey Jr., the only hitter he faced, and then Masa Kobayashi took over. He got Brandon Phillips on a fly ball to center to end the eighth, and that would be the Reds' last out of the game. Kobayashi came out to protect that 2-1 lead in the ninth, and promptly gave up a single, hit a batter, and then served up Adam Dunn's walk-off three-run homer. The bullpen ERA for the day: 40.50.

On Friday, Jeremy Sowers made his first big-league start of the season. He turned in the worst start by an Indian in a couple of weeks -- which isn't to say he was bad. The Indians' starters have been unbelievable. Sowers gave up three runs in five innings. So the starters have given up four runs in 12 1/3 over the last two games, an ERA of 2.92. Jorge Julio and Rafael Perez put in 2 1/3 scoreless between them, and then Jensen Lewis walked three, including one that sent what turned out to be the game-winning run jogging across home plate -- which should NEVER happen. So in those same two games, the bullpen has given up four runs in 3 2/3, an ERA of 9.82.

On Thursday, Aaron Laffey turned in what was possibly his best start of the season, giving up just one unearned run in seven innings, and striking out six. That's four runs over the last 19 1/3 innings for the starters (1.86). Laffey's unearned run was the first run an Indians starter had given up in the previous 43 1/3 innings, so you'll see that number continue to shrink as we go back in time for a while. Anyway, the Tribe won that game, completing the sweep of Oakland, but not before Rafael Betancourt continued his disappointing season by giving up a run on two hits, and getting just one out. So that's five runs over the last 5 2/3 innings for the bullpen (7.94).

On Wednesday, C.C. Sabathia pitched a five-hit, complete-game shutout over the A's, who (as we've covered in a previous post), have historically battered him. So that's four earned runs over the last 28 1/3 for the starters, or 1.27. The bullpen, mercifully, was spared having to so much as get up and stretch. Incidentally, that got C.C.'s season ERA down to 5.47, which is pretty good when you consider it was 13.50 after four starts. It's also worth mentioning that it was the Indians' major-league-leading seventh shutout as a staff.

The staff's sixth shutout came the previous day, also against Oakland. Paul Byrd was fantastic, striking out seven and giving up five hits in 7 1/3. Starters' ERA in the past five games: 1.01 (four runs in 35 2/3). The bullpen, obviously, did the job in that game, with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, between Perez and Kobayashi. So that's five runs in 7 1/3, or 5.87.

The Tribe's previous game was the nightcap of a doubleheader against Toronto, and Cliff Lee was unbelievably good, as he's been all year. He gave them nine scoreless innings, but it wasn't enough, as the game went into 10. So over the last six, the starters have given up four runs in 44 2/3 innings, or 0.81. Betancourt came in for the 10th and was lousy, giving up three runs in one inning. That's eight runs in 8 1/3 for the bullpen, or 8.64.

In the first game of that twinbill, Fausto Carmona tossed a complete-game shutout, so in the last seven games, the rotation has allowed four runs in 53 2/3, or 0.67 (which, coincidentally, happens to be Lee's eye-popping season ERA right now, going into this afternoon's game against the Reds).

On May 10, Laffey and little-used Craig Breslow combined to shut out the Blue Jays. Laffey went seven innings (eight games, four runs in 60 2/3, 0.59), and Breslow finished (eight runs in 10 1/3, 6.97). Incidentally, Breslow has given up just two runs in his eight innings this year. Given how the rest of the bullpen's been doing, why have we not seen him in over a week? Why keep trotting guys out there who haven't been successful lately, when you've got a guy sitting out there who's been nothing but successful so far? One other note on that game, which the Indians won 12-0: That's the last time they've scored more than four runs in a game. They've scored 18 runs in the seven games since, about 2 1/2 runs a game. It's a tribute to the pitchers (and the defense, to be fair) that they've gone 4-3 in those games.

The day before that, Sabathia gave up one run in seven innings of a 6-1 win over Toronto. So in the last nine games, the starters have yielded five earned runs in 67 2/3 innings, for a shiny 0.66 ERA. Lewis and Kobayashi got the job done in that one, so the bullpen ERA over those nine games is 5.84 (eight runs in 12 1/3).

So the bullpen's got to shape up. The Indians might have the best starting rotation in the majors right now, but they're not going to be this good all year. They're going to need better support from the relievers. And they're going to need more offense. Hear that, Travis Hafner? Casey Blake? Jhonny Peralta? Everybody?