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.

And hey, how about that Valbuena?

As soon as the ball came off Luis Valbuena's bat in the bottom of the 11th of last night's game against the Mariners, I knew it was gone. The only question was whether it would stay fair. Of course, it did, giving the Indians a 4-3 walk-off win. It was the first walk-off home run Valbuena had ever hit as a pro, and you could see how excited he was as he tossed aside his helmet between third and home so his jubilant teammates could beat him up once he touched the plate.

Valbuena's long ball was the lead story, but the secondary story was another impressive start from Aaron Laffey. Laffey gave up three runs in the top of the first, and then settled down to put up zeroes the rest of the way. I've said it before, but Laffey is an ace in the making. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find him in the 2010 All-Star Game, and maybe making a run at a Cy Young in a couple of years.

And the bullpen came through too, as Chris Perez, Kerry Wood, Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Rafael Perez put up four more zeroes to hold the Mariners off long enough for Valbuena to end it. Rafael Perez, in particular, has been pitching much better lately, after getting off to a terrible start this season. He had a couple of bad outings after being recalled from Columbus in early April, but has been rock-solid since then, giving up nothing over his last five outings, and getting the win last night.