Asdrubal struggles; Tribe bats remain silent

Poor Asdrubal Cabrera. He isn't having a very good series in Minnesota. First, on Tuesday night, he let an inning-ending double-play ground ball go between his legs in what would become a four-run inning that made the difference in the Tribe's 5-1 loss. Then, last night, he came up in the bottom of the fifth with one out and the bases loaded, the Indians still down just 3-0. Twins starter Francisco Liriano had already walked a man in the inning. Cabrera swung at the first pitch and hit an easy double-play ball to third. The Indians would go on to lose 6-0, but that was a blown opportunity to stay in the game.

David Huff followed his fine outing last week with a poor effort in this one, walking six and striking out just one in his six innings of work. He gave up four runs on three hits, one of which was Michael Cuddyer's solo home run in the sixth. Huff was lucky not to have given up more runs.

It's time to start getting a bit concerned about the Indians' offense. After last night's blanking, they're tied with Baltimore for 28th in the major leagues in runs scored, with only Houston behind them. With 46 runs in 14 games, they're averaging 3.3 a game, and no pitching staff can win with that kind of output. They have a team batting average of .215, which is positively hideous (and yes, worst in the bigs). On-base percentage is a better statistic, but they're ahead of only the aforementioned Orioles and Astros there, at .300.

Shin-Soo Choo, as covered here before, is off to a fine start (.313/.450/.625), but after that, the stat sheet's pretty ugly. I know what I just said about batting average, but it's a stat everyone can relate to, and it is a decent barometer of success, so let's take a look at it among Tribe regulars. Cabrera's hitting a respectable .288 (with no power), and next on the list is Travis Hafner, at .234 (with not much power). When the third-best batting average on your team is .234, you're in trouble. It's a testament to the Indians' starting pitchers that they're 6-8. It could be a lot worse.

How 'bout Huff!

David Huff pitched a gem yesterday to end the Indians' four-game losing streak and up the club's record to a not-quite-respectable-but-not-quite-pathetic 3-6. Huff went the full nine in the 3-2 win over Texas, striking out four, walking just one, and yielding just four hits. One of those hits was Michael Young's two-run homer in the fourth that gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead that lasted until Shin-Soo Choo's three-run job in the bottom of the eighth. Give Huff credit for holding the Rangers down long enough for the offense to come back.

It was Huff's second start of the season, and his second strong start. His ERA stands at 1.80. He gave up one earned run (three unearned) in his first start against the Tigers, but took the loss. It looked like he might face a similar fate in this one, but Choo showed why Manny Acta's got him hitting third in the lineup. The Seein' Korean (I know, it's bad, but I'll try to come up with something better) got off to a slow start, but had two hits yesterday to raise his average to .323, the home run was his third of the year, and he is now among the early American League leaders in many categories.

The Tribe opens a three-gamer tonight against the White Sox. Mitch Talbot goes against Mark Buehrle.

Odds and ends, starting with Shaun Rogers

So they say Shaun Rogers tried to carry a gun onto a plane yesterday at Hopkins. Well, not so much "tried to" as "forgot not to," at least if you believe him. Which, frankly, I do, because how stupid would he have to be to intentionally try to carry a loaded gun onto an airplane? Don't get me wrong, it's pretty stupid to forget it's in the bag you're trying to carry on too, but ... yeah, I've got nothing to add to that.

The arrest puts the 31-year-old Rogers' career in jeopardy, because even if he doesn't get jail time, he's likely to be suspended by the league, and for a long time because he'll be a repeat offender. He tested positive for a banned substance in 2006 and was suspended for four games. The Browns are going to have to expect to play next season without him.

* Indians manager Manny Acta gave the final spot in the starting rotation to David Huff, as I predicted. Don't bother to check what I predicted, just take my word for it. OK, you're right, I thought it would be Aaron Laffey. Anyway, Huff went 8-11 as a rookie last year, with a 5.61 ERA. He walked 41 hitters and struck out 65, and gave up 16 home runs in 128 1/3 innings. Maybe Manny sees something I don't. I'll be shocked if Huff stays in the rotation all year.

* Shaquille O'Neal took part in the Cavaliers' practice yesterday, for the first time since he tore a ligament in his thumb on Feb. 25. Coach Mike Brown says he's not counting on Shaq being back before the playoffs, but the big man says he's ahead of schedule. I hope he's right; it would be nice to get at least a couple of games under his belt before they start needing to win four to advance.

* The Browns were among 30 teams (out of 32) to check out Texas quarterback Colt McCoy on Wednesday. McCoy's skills are said to be well-suited to a West Coast-style offense, which the Browns are planning to implement. We all know Jake Delhomme's not going to be our quarterback in a year or two, so whether the Browns pick up McCoy or Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen or whoever, they're picking a quarterback this year. They'd have to trade up for Bradford, and might have to trade up for Clausen too (stupid end-of-season four-game winning streak), but McCoy could be available when the Browns pick in the second round. If so, they'd be fools not to give him a shot.

Choo-choo Choo

For the second straight night, Shin-Soo Choo was one of the heroes last night in the Indians' 7-3 win over the Cardinals. Choo went 3-for-4 and knocked in three runs, and didn't need no stinking seagulls to do it this time. He'd been struggling lately, so it's nice to see him break out a little bit. Let's hope he can keep it going.

David Huff, who got the win to improve to 2-2, had his best start as a major-leaguer, in his sixth try. Huff went 7 1/3 innings and left with the score 5-1. Joe Smith gave up back-to-back singles to Albert Poo Holes and former Indian Ryan Ludwick to score two more runs that were charged to Huff, but he and Rafael Perez finished a shaky eighth that ended with a bases-loaded ground ball to short. Huff's ERA dropped to a still-ugly 7.39, but it's definitely moving in the right direction. He got battered in his first two major-league starts, after which his ERA stood at 17.55, and then with each start fell to 10.97, then 9.77, 8.71, and now 7.39. At this rate, he'll be under 1 in no time. (Yeah, I know. I'm just kidding.)

The Tribe offense came right back with two more in the bottom of the eighth, courtesy of a Victor Martinez two-run double, and Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth in a non-save situation. Wood has had some rough outings too, as we all know, but last night's performance got his ERA under 5, and he hasn't given up a run in his last 10 outings.

I have to take issue with one of Eric Wedge's tactical moves last night. After Ryan Garko led off the seventh with a double, Wedge pulled him in favor of pinch-runner Trevor Crowe. I understand what Wedge was trying to do there, as it was then a 2-1 game and he wanted to get an insurance run. But the Indians' offense still had nine outs to work with, counting the bottom of the ninth, which they proved not to need. That meant Garko's spot in the order would probably come up again, and Crowe came into the game hitting .185. Seemed to me the Indians were more likely to get another run via Garko's bat than Crowe's legs. Sure enough, Crowe didn't score a run (he got thrown out at the plate), and he did come up to bat in the bottom of the eighth, whereupon he promptly struck out.

But hey, a win's a win. At 28-35, the Tribe is now just a half-game behind the White Sox for third place, and 2 1/2 behind the Twins for second. The first-place Tigers are seven in front of the Indians, but we've got to take things one step at a time. There's still 99 games to go.