News flash: Indians suck

The Indians' 6-1 loss to Oakland last night was their fifth straight, and they have not been competitive at all. I have hardly been watching the games (my tolerance for pain is not what it used to be) beyond just checking in every now and then to see what the score is. Since Thursday's 7-3 win over the Royals, the Tribe has lost to the Tigers 6-0, 5-2 and 8-1, then 5-0 and 6-1 to the Athletics. When you lose five straight and opposing pitchers have exactly one save in that period, that's pathetic. Yes, this team is playing out the string.

At 50-76, the Indians have the third-worst record in the American League. The Orioles are still the worst, despite the strong burst after their managerial change, at 45-82. They've lost seven of their last 11, which is bad, but better than the Indians have done in that period. The disappointing Mariners are 50-77, so it's pretty much even money whether the Tribe will finish ahead of the M's. In the National League, the Pirates and Diamondbacks are worse than our guys. So I guess it could be worse.

There's plenty of blame to go around for this five-game skid. The offense has been non-existent, scoring a total of four runs in five games, on a total of 27 hits. That's about five hits a game. That's terrible. But the starting pitching has been bad too. Five games is, as we all know, a complete round through a starting rotation, and each and every one of our current starters -- Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin, Jeanmar Gomez, Fausto Carmona and Mitch Talbot -- pitched badly in his outing. They gave up a total of 27 earned runs in a combined 27 2/3 innings of work, which works out to an ERA of 8.78.

The only bright spot has been the bullpen, which during the streak has unfailingly calmed things down to give the offense a chance to recover. (The offense made the least of those opportunities, but that's not the fault of any Tribe relievers.) In the five games, Indians relief pitchers have gone a total of 14 1/3 innings and given up just two runs, which makes for a sterling 1.25 ERA. Would that the bullpen were not the least important part of a ballclub.

We all knew right out of the gate that the Indians wouldn't contend this year; they'd gotten rid of their most expensive veterans last year, with the exception of Travis Hafner, whose contract and recent performance make him untradable. And they've gotten rid of even more players this year and dealt with some key injuries, so the club they're putting on the field on any given day looks more like an above-average AAA team than a major-league team. But even an above-average AAA team shouldn't be THIS bad.

Of course, it's just five games. And of course, winning or losing hardly matters right now, in the grand scheme of things. But we need to see some growth. And what we're seeing right now is not growth. It's just gross.