Come on already!

Does anyone remember the 1988 group that the Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes dubbed the Bullpen From Hell? His colleague, Bud Shaw, proposed this week that the current Indians bullpen should replace them with that moniker, and he's quite right. This is a terrible, horrible, awful bullpen.

They did it again last night in Pittsburgh. After Cliff Lee turned in a typical performance for him — seven innings, two runs — Eric Wedge had little choice but to call on one his relievers to pitch the eighth and ninth of what was then a 2-2 game, as Lee had thrown 115 pitches.

The eighth was very dicey, as Joe Smith walked both the LaRoche brothers after striking out Freddy Sanchez, and Rafael Perez followed by walking Brandon Moss to load the bases. He got out of it with a double play, but man oh man, your relievers can't be walking the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a tie game. That's a recipe for disaster. And by the way, the two outs Perez got lowered his ERA to 9.70. The fact that Wedge keeps having to give the ball in late-inning pressure situations to a guy who gives up more than a run an inning speaks volumes about this "relief" crew.

Enter Matt Herges in the ninth. The 39-year-old veteran made his first appearance for the Tribe on May 7, and had a fine May, entering June with a 1.13 ERA. His June? Yeah, not so good. He entered last night's game having given up seven runs in 6 2/3 innings this month, for a 9.45 ERA. The difference is right there in the strikeout column — he struck out 14 in 16 innings in May, and just two of the 20 outs he's gotten in June have come via the K. Regardless, he sure didn't get the job done last night. He didn't record an out, the three hitters he faced all singled, the last of the three bringing home the first of the three, and that was the game.

This is getting pathetic. I don't know what needs to be done, but I will say this: If Eric Wedge is still the manager when the 2010 season opens, I'll be surprised.

Losing streak is over, but bullpen blues continue

David Huff turned in the best pitching performance of his fledgling major-league career last night, and earned the right to relax through an easy ninth inning, leaving the game with a 5-0 lead. But that isn't what happened.

Winning and losing is the important thing, and I don't want to lose sight of the fact that the Indians won last night. But what Matt Herges and Kerry Wood put us through in that ninth inning sticks in the mind. Let's recap: After Huff's eight-inning masterpiece, in which he shut out the Pirates on four hits, Herges came in and immediately blew the shutout, giving up a leadoff home run to Adam LaRoche. Then he gave up a single to Robinzon Diaz. Then an Andy LaRoche groundout sent Diaz to second. Then pinch-hitter Brandon Moss doubled Diaz in. And that was it for Herges, who left with the score 5-2 and the runner on second his responsibility.

Wood, who's been maddeningly streaky this year and is on a very bad jag, came in and gave up an RBI double to Jack Wilson. Then he struck out pinch-hitter Delwyn Young with some high cheese, in the only at-bat of the inning in which the pitcher looked halfway decent. That made it two outs, with the score 5-3. Next, an Andrew McCutchen single scored Wilson from second. Then Wood walked Nyjer Morgan, who represented the winning run. Then he walked Freddy Sanchez, sending the winning run to second. That brought up Adam LaRoche, who you may recall led off the inning with a homer off Herges. Tell me you watched that ninth inning and didn't picture LaRoche sending a screamer into the outfield and scoring two.

Well, LaRoche did hit it pretty hard, but it landed in the glove of Mark DeRosa in right field, and the Indians are now on a one-game winning streak. But it shouln't have been that difficult.

On a more positive note, it was great to see Grady Sizemore back, and getting two hits, including his second triple of the season, which scored the Tribe's first two runs. He also made some nice catches. So that's a good sign.

For those keeping score at home, the Indians are back in last place, a game-and-a-half out of fourth, and 10 games out of first. If they're going to do it, they've got to make a move in the standings very soon. But I have serious doubts about whether they can do it with these arms in their bullpen.

Today in sports history

Happy 40th birthday, Canadian-born journeyman major league outfielder Matt Stairs.

The stubby little Stairs (listed at 5'9", 175 pounds), grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and was a standout in both hockey and baseball. He chose baseball, obviously, and the Montreal Expos (R.I.P.) drafted him as a pitcher/shortstop. He made his major league debut in 1992, but played in just 19 games for the Expos in '92 and '93 before going to Japan, playing one season for the Chunichi Dragons.

After a season with the Red Sox, Stairs started to blossom in Oakland, where he spent five years, topping 100 RBIs twice, and hitting 38 home runs in 1999, finishing 17th in the American League MVP voting that year. Stairs was kind of a late bloomer, having his best season at 31. Most hitters peak around age 27, but Stairs didn't even get to play regularly in the majors until he was 29.

Sensing that Stairs might be in for a budget-busting contract, A's GM Billy Beane traded him after the 2000 season to the Cubs for Matt Ireland. (Who? Exactly.) After that, he spent one year with the Cubs, one year with the Brewers, one year with the Pirates, and two-plus years with the Royals. Just to make sure he didn't get comfortable, the Rangers made a deadline deal for him in 2006, then waived him that September after he'd hit just .210 for them in 26 games. The Tigers picked him up, and he filled in for 14 games before signing with the Toronto Blue Jays, his 10th major league team (11th if you count Japan).

He had a decent 2007 for the Blue Jays at age 39, hitting .289 with 21 homers and 64 RBIs. He is signed through 2009. Perhaps he'll finish his career in his home country, just as he started it there.