Lesson to young infielders: Get your glove dirty!

It can't feel good to be Luis Valbuena right now. The proximate cause of the Indians' 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays yesterday was the fact that a ground ball that should have been the last out of the game went under his glove into left field, allowing the next hitter, Adam Lind, to come up and hit a two-run homer off Chris Perez. ... For that matter, it can't feel very good to be Chris Perez, because even after Valbuena's gaffe, Perez still had a chance to close it out. But home runs will happen; balls that squirt through between infielders' legs are not supposed to, at least not at the major league level.

Valbuena, the Tribe's everyday second baseman, was playing shortstop because Asdrubal Cabrera's leg is bothering him. We can sit here and say Cabrera would have made that play — but let's be honest, if you'd put a third-string high school DH out there, he'd probably have made that play. Valbuena was playing out of position, and the ball does come off the bat a little differently at shortstop than at second base. Still, he obviously should have had it, and he knows that as well as you and I.

This was the club's fourth straight loss, and undoubtedly the loss that stings the most so far in the young season. When the Indians were 10-13 a few days ago, Bob Frantz on WTAM was saying this is not that bad a team. Now, at 10-17, they're on pace to lose more than 100 games, they're in last place in the AL Central, and there seems to be very little reason to hope they're going to be respectable. Sorry, fans, but that's the way it is.