CLEVELAND — The Indians’ slow start — four wins in the first nine games — caught the attention of plenty around baseball, including general manager Mark Shapiro.
“I’m very hesitant to judge small junctures of time,” Shapiro said. “But having said that, I don’t think anybody is happy with the way we’ve played. It’s been inconsistent.
“Outside of three starting pitchers (Fausto Carmona, Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee), virtually every other area of our team has been inconsistent.”
A sagging offense has been the most glaring deficiency for the Indians, who, after scoring 17 runs in their first two games of the season, entered Friday totalling just 20 over the seven games since. They came into a three-game series with Oakland batting just .239 as a team — fourth-lowest in the American League.
Cleveland manager Eric Wedge has already tinkered with the lineup to try to get some offense, as he did again Friday, sitting struggling right fielder Franklin Gutierrez (.154, 4-for-26) while left-field platoon mates David Dellucci and Jason Michaels each started — Michaels in place of Gutierrez in right.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do in certain areas and different individuals we need to get going,” Wedge said. “Our offense has got to be better. We’re putting way too much pressure on our pitchers.
“There’s a few guys whose at-bats are a little better, but, for the most part, we’re still well below where we need to be, offensively. I’m not very happy with the way we’re playing right now.”
Even with a substandard year from Travis Hafner, the Indians were one of the majors’ top scoring teams last season, averaging five runs per game. Both Wedge and Shapiro are confident they’ll start producing similar numbers soon.
“I’m confident that they’re not going to hit like this all season,” Shapiro said.

Buffalo business

It appears that the Indians are moving closer to ending their association with their Triple-A minor league affiliate in Buffalo.
Cleveland’s player development contract with the Bisons expires at the end of the year, but rather than re-up with the affiliate, the Indians announced Friday that they would not make a decision until this season is complete.
Shapiro said the announcement should not be seen as evidence that the team will move its Triple-A operations elsewhere, but there has been speculation that the Indians would favor Columbus. The Nationals’ player development contract with Columbus also expires at the end of the year.  
“All we said today was that we were going to wait until the end of the season before we further pursue an agreement with Buffalo or somewhere else,” Shapiro said.

Satisfied skipper

Wedge wasn’t at Thursday’s news conference to announce Fausto Carmona’s long-term contract, but he was pleased with the results.
“I’m happy for him and his family. It’s well deserved,” Wedge said of Carmona’s four-year, $15-million deal, which includes three option years that could bring the total to $48 million over seven years. “Anytime you have the opportunity to keep an individual with his type of makeup and character, it’s nothing but positive.”

Roundin’ third

The Indians entered Friday night having not lost a home series since Aug. 10-12 last year, against the Yankees. They had won seven straight home series after winning two of three from the White Sox to open this season at Progressive Field.
• After hitting 43 home runs in 32 spring training games (second-highest total in the American League), the Indians hit eight homers in their first nine regular season games.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

 

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