Tribe Talk: At the Season's Midpoint, the Indians Are Halfway to Nowhere

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Tribe fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the Indians each week throughout the season.

Before the start of this season, some of us took a survey conducted by Bleacher Report Indians Community Leader Nino Colla for a season preview article. To say we didn't do too well with our predictions would be an understatement.

Many of us predicted great things for Trevor Crowe. Half of us predicted Fausto Carmona would be the team's Cy Young winner. I doubt I need to tell you how our predictions relating to Grady Sizemore are panning out.

And perhaps the thing that looks the most absurd now, every one of us picked the Tribe to win the division.

We at Tribe Talk like to think we know a little something about baseball, so since the results of the preseason poll now make us look incompetent, we decided to give it another shot.

Thus it is with the hope of redeeming ourselves that I present to you the results of our new poll, in which we make another attempt at predicting the outcome of 2009 for the Indians, as well as share our thoughts on the first half of the season.

I would like to thank survey participants Nino Colla, Jeff Smirnoff, Joyce Quayle, Matt Swope, Cari Winterich, Daniel Wolf, and The Coop for sharing their thoughts.

Next week Tribe Talk will return to the usual format, but as always, this discussion is open to all, so please feel free to comment below and pitch in your thoughts on what we're addressing this week.

Go Tribe!

1. Team MVP, First Half of the 2009 season

Shin-Soo Choo received the most votes, though several panelists voted that he share the honor with Victor Martinez. Cliff Lee got two votes, and Joyce cast her vote for "the fans, for putting up with this crap."

2. Player Who Has Been the Biggest Disappointment, First Half of the 2009 Season

Grady Sizemore, Ben Francisco, and "the entire bullpen" all received votes, but Fausto Carmona was the clear winner. Daniel wisely suggested, "Mark Shapiro should find a retired veteran pitcher and throw some money his way to help Carmona get through his pitching problems."

3. High Point of the First Half of the 2009 Season

The game on Memorial Day weekend where the Tribe staged a 10-run comeback against the Devil Rays got the most votes. As Nino noted, "I think we all thought that was the point where things would turn around."

Coming in second were answers relating to the Tribe's performance in the opening series at New Yankee Stadium, which referenced ruining the Yankees' home opener in their new stadium, beating CC Sabathia the first time the Tribe faced him as a Yankee, and winning 22-4.

Proving how dismal the season has been, half the panelists didn't vote for any accomplishment by the Tribe on the field as their high point. Samantha and Daniel both decided the high point of this season was the day before it started. The seagulls were mentioned several times.

Coop had the most interesting answer, as follows: "I went to the Indians-Pirates game on June 25 with 50 or so of my closest friends, also known as the Pittsburgh Browns Backers. We owned the left field bleachers of PNC Park, much to the dismay of confused Yinzers.

"We also played a riveting game of 'Pass the Cup.' For those of you not familiar, this is a gambling game where you lose money when hitters make outs and win money when hitters get hits. A home run entitles the 'cup holder' to the proceeds of the entire cup. Victor Martinez’ solo shot to lead off the sixth inning won me $33.

"Incidentally, Cliff Lee pitched a gem and the bullpen blew it. And yes, folks, that has been my high point of this Indians season."

4. Low Point of the 2009 Season

Most of the panelists seemed to agree that the low point was either all of June or the second half of June. Half the panelists honed in on the Milwaukee series, pointing out that the Tribe allowed the Brewers to score 30 runs, blew a seven-run lead in the series opener, and got swept in this series and the following one in Wrigley.

Several panelists eschewed specifics and declared that the low point occurred every time the bullpen blew a lead.

Samantha saw the Pittsburgh series as the low point because it was then that she finally had to completely give up on the season: "As I watched the Tribe get pummeled by the Pirates, I realized that at this point hoping for a miraculous turnaround wasn't optimistic; it was just idiotic."

Daniel may have put it best though: "The lowest point of the first half cannot be distinguished as one specific point. The entire first half of 2009 is a low point for not only the team, but the city of Cleveland and its baseball fans too."

5. Items you have broken or damaged out of frustration with the Indians this season

The panelists seem to have remarkable restraint, as the only things actually declared broken were Daniel and Coop's hearts and Joyce's bobbleheads (which worked out okay because she hates bobbleheads anyway).

Other panelists found alternative ways to let out their frustration: Jeff took it out on the treadmill, so he's in really good shape now. Thanks to the Indians, Samantha has gotten her money's worth out of the punching bag she got before the season started and is taking comfort in the fact that now she will at least be better in a fight.

Cari and Matt copped to drinking more, and Nino said he's pretty even tempered but added the caveat that "one more year of this and I might take up being violent."

6. Player(s) who will be traded before the end of the season

Jamey Carroll got three votes, Carl Pavano, Cliff Lee, and Victor Martinez got two, Jhonny Peralta got one vote, and one panelist thought even Grady Sizemore was a possibility.

Three panelists also felt compelled to assert that Martinez would NOT be traded, citing reasons such as, "the Indians can't get enough back for him to justify the PR nightmare it would create" (Samantha), "there would be riots on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario" (Coop), and "he's the closest thing they have to a manager" (Matt).

7. Describe the Bullpen in One Word

The Panelists described the bullpen as: incompetent, depressing, embarrassing, a disaster, 2009's Edsel, "No Comment," lemmings, and Voldemort.

8. Final Standings in 2009 for the AL Central

All the panelists had Minnesota, Detroit, and Chicago in the top three spots, though the order varied. Four people picked Minnesota to win the division and three picked Detroit. One person abstained on the grounds that since it wouldn't be the Indians, it didn't matter.

Cleveland and Kansas City occupied everyone's four and five spots, with four panelists predicting the Indians will finish the season in the cellar and three predicting it will be the Royals who finish last.

After tallying up all the votes, the Tribe Talk panel's prediction as a group is:

1. Minnesota

2. Detroit

3. Chicago

4. Kansas City

5. Cleveland

9. One sentence summing up your thoughts on the first half of the 2009 season

Two panelists' answers conveyed a mixture of disappointment and disgust:

"This team has made me the most frustrated I've ever been in my entire life, and I want to know what I did to deserve this." (Nino)

"I thought the Indians would contend, and I knew they had a chance to be so-so, but I never thought they could be this putrid and inept." (Jeff)

Two others expressed their displeasure with Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro:

"Can I get a chance to try to run this team better?" (Daniel)

"The performance over the last season and a half should have proven to everyone that Eric Wedge is a terrible manager and Mark Shapiro is an awful general manager and talent evaluator, and both need to be replaced as quickly as possible." (Coop)

Two more panelists had harsh words for owner Larry Dolan:

"I left my heart in JACOBS Field." (Joyce)

"Ultimately I blame Dolan—he is unfairly attacked for the payroll issues, but the real problem is that he doesn't know enough about baseball to own a baseball team." (Matt)

The last two panelists dismissed the season as business as usual for Cleveland sports:

"Completely, utterly disappointing, but not that surprising considering it's Cleveland." (Cari)

"In the lifelong series of battles between me and the Cleveland Curse, the Curse remains undefeated." (Samantha)