This and that from a last-place view in the Central Division:
Cliff Lee hasn’t hurt his Cy Young candidacy any in the second half, pitching well enough to maintain what appears to be the lead in the race for the coveted pitching award.
His main competition right now is Los Angeles’ Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana, Toronto’s Roy Halladay, New York’s Mike Mussina and Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka. Though the award almost always goes to a pitcher on a contending team, if Lee clearly outshines the rest as he has done thus far, he will become the second straight Cleveland pitcher to win the honor. The other is pitching in Milwaukee right now — 6-0 with a 1.57 ERA in seven starts for the Brewers.
• Outside of the team as a whole, who have been the biggest disappointments in the teepee?
In the pitching department, hands down, reliever Rafael Betancourt, who was one of the majors’ top setup men last year, but hasn’t gotten anybody out this season. The pitiful performance comes after he signed a multiyear contract in the offseason. Thanks, bro.
Position player? Other than the obvious — Travis Hafner and his mysterious shoulder ailment — how about Ryan Garko and Franklin Gutierrez? This pair was expected to blossom into legitimate offensive weapons this season, but instead look as though they should be back at Triple-A Buffalo.
It’s a surprising turn in both cases, but one that has forced the Indians to consider other options at their positions.
• Speaking of Garko, not that it’s right, but stars can get away with not running out a grounder. That’s not what he is. He’s a guy fighting to keep his starting spot in the big leagues, or at least he should be. It’s already clear manager Eric Wedge isn’t pleased with the Champagne Kid’s performance this year, dropping him in the order and reducing his playing time. Don’t compound things by not playing the game the right way. It’s one of Wedge’s pet peeves.
• One of the few bright spots — center fielder Grady Sizemore — was on pace to hit 38 home runs and steal 38 bases, which would make him the second player in Indians history (Joe Carter the other) to accomplish the feat. That’s a nice achievement for Sizemore, who made his third consecutive All-Star team and is a leader of a club playing for little more than personal pride. He’s probably going to get some MVP votes, deservedly so, but his unspectacular batting average — .268 through Saturday’s game — is probably going to hold him back.
• Admittedly, Jeremy Sowers, Cleveland’s first-round draft pick (sixth overall) in 2004, has pitched better recently, but the 25-year-old lefty still looks like a fourth or fifth starter, at best. His stuff just doesn’t look like that of a front-end rotation guy. The Indians are going to have to lower their expectations a bit in his case.
• Leave Jhonny Peralta at shortstop. While he won’t ever be mistaken as Gold Glover at the position, he’s not a glaring liability, and that’s where he’s most comfortable. That’s translated to the plate, where Peralta has surprisingly filled the cleanup role well — as many extra-base hits (55) as Texas’ Josh Hamilton through Friday.
Third base? That doesn’t appear to be a good fit for the slow-reacting Peralta, who has more time to move at short. Leave Peralta at short and Asdrubal Cabrera at second — provided Cabrera can bat better than .200 — and go find a third baseman this winter, because Andy Marte can’t carry that load effectively on a full-time basis.
• The rest of the season should serve as a closer audition for lefty Rafael Perez, who has been magnificent as of late. We’ve seen how Joe Borowski, Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi fared in the role — not well. Let’s see what this guy can do in high-pressure ninth-inning situations before overspending on the free-agent market. After a slow start, Perez has been the only reliever Wedge has been able to turn to consistently without it blowing up in his face.
• Rust from sitting on the disabled list for over two months is probably at the root of Fausto Carmona’s rough return, but his control problems were present prior to the injury — 38 walks in 10 starts. With CC Sabathia undoubtedly gone for good, the Indians will still have a pair of
No. 1 starters in Lee and Carmona — that is if Carmona is able to return to the form he produced when he won 19 games a year ago and outpitched Sabathia down the stretch.
• When’s Matt LaPorta getting to Cleveland? He’s hitting a bunch of homers for Team USA after hitting all of one in 14 games for the Double-A Akron Aeros before catching a flight to Beijing. Bring home the gold, Matt. And then come back to Cleveland and starting going deep for the Indians.
• “Offense, Offense, Offense.” That should be the fans’ rally cry to general manager Mark Shapiro this offseason. Don’t stand pat and rely on what you think you already have. You saw where that got you this year. Go out and add one or two top-shelf run producers — as long as the tightpocketed Dolans loosen the purse strings. Didn’t Larry Dolan say he would spend when the time was right? The club came a win away from reaching the World Series last year and your big offseason acquisitions were Kobayashi and utility man Jamey Carroll? Wasn’t the time right?
• There’s been a call for the Indians to promote Trevor Crowe, David Huff and some other prospects from the minors. They’ll be here in September. Hold your horses. Cleveland has other young players to look at that are ahead in line.
• Imagine if the Indians would have just re-signed Kenny Lofton in the offseason. All their problems would have been solved. That’s a joke for all you that really believe Lofton could have made a difference. He couldn’t have.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. 

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