All things being equal

Tribe is 16-9 over the last 25 games. Still, the cockroaches can complain about hitting, individual performances, and lack of a dominant record. If anyone tries to point out optimism or point to other teams with similar problems, the roaches attack the poster with accusations of using other failures to cover up inequities of the Tribe.

I am not 100% certain, but I believe that the Tribe is only 3 games or so away from the best record in the A.L. The Tribe is beating teams with the best Starting Pitching in the league. Tribe is beating teams that historically give them problems...Oakland (except for late last year when Embree was struggling at closer and starters were injured), New York, Boston, and Anaheim.

Now, I can't wait for the Tribe to head to some warmer weather, get away from Jacobs field and get the early batting practice. Should be fun to allow the Tribe a respite from the cold damp weather and fans groans.

Should be fun to see where the Tribe is in the standings in a month or so.

Onto the topic of off-season acquisitions...how good was it to pay attention to the pen and get Kobe and Julio in here. Having Mastny in the minors for a call up rather then havi to go to Mujica and Bauer.

How about not dealing Cliff Lee, Aaron Laffey, or Jeremy Sower?

How about picking up the options on Borowski and Byrd. Borowski has yet to pay dividends, but Joe gives the Tribe an option at Closer, set-up man (like in Tampa), mop-up, or trade bait later on.

How about picking up Fultz and dropping him and picking up Breslow, who could be a decent reliever if he's not overexposed and used in mop up roles....he is not as good as Bettencourt and Perez, not Kobe, Lewis, or Julio, but he's better then Fultz, Mastny, and Mujica.

Now, we've survived the lack of offensive production and have survived not having a "off-season" bat picked up. We now have enough time to get a look at Francisco and Choo over the next 4-6 weeks.

We have a chance to offer Barfield an opportunity at redemption. We have a chance for Laffey to garner major league innings...don't ever overlook the "investment in innings" that a team has to make in a pitcher.

Sowers is returning to his once promising form which is nice to see.

Garko, Hafner, Peralta, Victor, Grady, and Blake need to hit at their 2007 averages to get a true barometer of the offense.

Jumpin around a bit here...but its a 40 game mark post...I guess.

Peace