CLEVELAND — The Indians aren’t in panic mode yet, but they’re moving toward the destination.
With his club off to a 5-10 start and failing in practically every phase, Cleveland manager Eric Wedge called his first team meeting prior to Thursday’s game. He was less than revealing concerning the nature of the sit down.
“I’m not going to reference the meeting at all,” said Wedge, whose defending Central Division champion Indians entered the series finale against Detroit tied with the Tigers in the division basement. “It’s our business and we’ll leave it as such.
“It is what it is. We’ve got a lot of work to do. This is collective. This is not just about one area of our ballclub. We’ve got some strong competitors here. We need that to come out. We’ve got leaders on the ballclub. I think that’ll help, but it’s going to take everybody doing their part and upping the ante a little bit.”
The Indians are failing on the offensive and defensive fronts, getting sporadic effective outings from their rotation, little relief from their bullpen and minimal production from their hitters.
Through its first 15 games, Cleveland’s offense ranked 10th in the American League with 63 runs (17 in first two games) and last in batting average (.232), while owning the majors’ lowest slugging percentage (.340). Indians starting pitchers owned the third-highest ERA (4.98) in the league over the span, while their relievers owned the AL’s second-highest ERA (5.63).    
“What’s surprising is we’re kind of the polar opposite of what made us successful last year,” said Indians general manager Mark Shapiro. “Our pitchers threw strikes and kept the ball in the ballpark, and this year we’re not throwing strikes and we’re not keeping the ball in the ballpark. Our hitters controlled the strike zone and had tough quality at-bats from top to bottom in our lineup, but there’s been some real dead spots in our lineup. It’s hard to stop one dead spot, let alone three or four.”
Of the nine players in Cleveland’s lineup Thursday, six were batting under .242.
The Indians are still trusting in the length of the season and are not considering any roster moves at this juncture.
“To do that after 15, 16 games in is a mistake, but there are things we can do down the road, of course,” Shapiro said. “It’s going to take some pickups from four or five (in the lineup). Again, it’s a very small sample. After 15 games, I’m not going to look at anything and say it necessitates action. It necessitates concern, not action.”

Sabathia’s story

The Indians are convinced that the wealth of C.C. Sabathia’s problems stem from a lack of control. Sabathia (0-3, 13.50) has walked 14 batters through four starts (18 innings) after walking 37 all of last year, and too many of his pitches are finding too much of the plate when he gets ahead of hitters.  
“It is about, I think, command,” Wedge said. “As good as C.C. is, if you miss over the middle of the plate, it’s the big leagues and you’re going to get hurt a little bit. I don’t think it’s anything too complex.”
Sabathia is off to the first 0-3 start of his career and the worst ever by a defending Cy Young Award winner, with opposing hitters batting .390 off him. But he and the Indians are counting on the ace turning things around.
 “I’m confident he’s going to get it figured out and be a lot better, and he’ll lead our staff,” Shapiro said.

Joe Bo’s journey

Wedge said Joe Borowski would likely undergo an MRI on his right shoulder, but the Indians are still confident that a strained triceps is the closer’s only ailment. He is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
Borowski, who posted an 0-2 record and 18.00 ERA, while blowing two of four save opportunities through his first five appearances, sustained the injury in spring training, but the Indians felt the right-hander could pitch through it.
“It was an injury of the level that you try to work through,” Shapiro said. “We gave him every opportunity to do that, but he never really regained his form.
“He’s a guy that has to be in sync and everything has to be right for him. His stuff’s always been marginal, so if you take it down a notch, it’s going to make it virtually impossible for him to compete.”

Next up

The Indians are on the road the next seven days, beginning a three-game series in Minnesota tonight at 8:10.
Cliff Lee (2-0, 0.61) opens the set against left-hander Francisco Liriano (0-1, 7.71), while Jake Westbrook (1-1, 2.38) and right-hander Nick Blackburn (0-1, 3.57) square off Saturday (3:55 on Channel 8).
Paul Byrd (0-2, 6.08) will start the series finale Sunday (2:10 on Channel 3), opposing righty Scott Baker (2-0, 4.34).
Cleveland went 14-4 against Minnesota last year, 7-2 at the Metrodome.

Brothers in arms

With the Cavaliers and Wizards set to begin their first-round playoff series, a number of Indians games have been switched from WTAM 1100-AM to WMMS 100.7-FM.
Saturday’s game in Minnesota, April 24th’s game at Kansas City (8:10) and April 27th’s game against the Yankees (1:05) will be broadcast by the FM station.
Showing their support of the Cavs, the Indians have hung banners at Progressive Field gates, reading “Let’s Go Cavs.”

Roundin’ third

Entering Thursday, Indians pitchers had allowed three of the nine grand slams hit in the American League this year.
• David Dellucci’s first-inning homer Wednesday was his first since last June and it snapped a four-game homerless drought for Cleveland.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. 

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