The elements are conspiring against the Indians. It holds up in my court. If we throw in that two of our big guns are still stuck on the Interstate, one on the shelf, and our entire pitching staff still trying to find their foothold, the Tribe haven’t been given a chance from Momma Nat to settle into a groove.

Still, the familiarity stinks.

It’s because I feel like we have all seen this movie before. It’s as if we can recite the lines and reenact the plot points in our sleep.  Hot and cold. Gangbusters to Noodle bats. Ace-quality pitching to peeking-between-our-fingers horror. It’s like we are watching the post-All-Star break swoon early. (Maybe that’s a good thing. Get it out of the way early.)

But as it’s been said countless times, nothing is decided this early. As of today, the Indians have played just 14 percent of the schedule. It’s also a good reminder that just because the Tribe have spent some money in the off-season, and just because they have one of the best managers in the game, doesn’t mean the woes are fixed immediately. And remember, this is April; where weather has the attention span of a seven year-old after ten cans of Red Bull. It’s hard to get it to settle down to get into a groove; to see what is in that box of chocolates. We still don’t know what we’re getting.

We get rain. And then…

Who would’ve thought that Corey Kluber would out-pitch Justin Masterson? Certainly not me. I was writing the doubleheader, and series, off as a disaster. Now we have a chance for a split.

We get more rain. And then…

Who would’ve thought that Kipnis would have a moment of old-fashioned, non-robotic-baseball-player humanity; angry at himself for swinging hopelessly at a third strike and subsequently not realizing that the ball has skittered away, potentially allowing him to extend the game on Friday night? Don’t lie. We were all yelling at him to move.

Animals come marching in two by two. And then…

Who would’ve thought that Paul Konerko would crush us? Denying us a chance at sweeping our 50 millionth (just an educated guesstimate) shortened series? Okay, we all knew that was coming, early or not. Rain or sunshine.

So yeah, April hasn’t been kind, and there has been more frustration than good, but let’s not jump off the highest ledge yet. We know the boys haven’t been given a chance to settle in.

The good news is that my excuse-making ends on Wednesday.

 

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