A ninth-inning Ryan Ludwick homer wasn’t enough as the Indians fell to the Twins 6-4 Saturday afternoon. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 but I didn’t understand why Kevin Millwood, who was brilliant again through most of his outing today, was back on the hill in the eighth with a pitch count up over 100. Sure, aside from a three-run homer to Lew Ford in the sixth, Millwood dominated the Twins lineup all afternoon but if you’re down 3-2 in the eighth and your starter has already eclipsed 100 pitches, it’s time to turn it over to your bullpen, especially this early in the season. Instead, Wedge kept Millwood in and, after allowing a single and a walk to the inning’s first two hitters, Millwood surrendered what proved to be a decisive three-run home run to Torii Hunter. Again, it’s easy to criticize after the fact but in that situation, I think Wedge needs to pat Millwood on the back for another job well done and then call on his deep bullpen to keep the score close.

Honestly, at this point I’m not even sure I want the Cavs to make the playoffs. Following Friday’s 111-119 loss to Washington, a loss that dropped the Cavaliers to eighth in the East and just one game ahead of the Nets, I seriously wonder if this team could even squeeze off one measly win in an opening-round playoff series with someone like Miami or Detroit. Tonight’s boxscore looks all too familiar, with LeBron stuffing the stat sheet in a full 48 minutes (38 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) while guys like Jeff McInnis, Ira Newble and Eric Snow failed to contribute anything of significance and Z delivered an overwhelmingly mediocre performance, fouling out in 19 minutes with just eight points and one rebound. Who did Zydrunas have so much trouble with? Brendan Friggin’ Haywood.

This is getting absolutely ridiculous. Where’s this team’s sense of urgency, its kill-or-be-killed mentality? Three games left, two of those against Detroit and Boston. It ain’t looking good, Cavs fans.

These one-run losses are getting painful. Tonight’s 3-2 loss to the Twins was especially painful considering the Tribe actually hit Cy Young winner Johan Santana pretty well, with Victor Martinez and Ryan Ludwick each launching solo homers in the bottom of the second inning. They had several other chances to take control throughout the game but ended up leaving seven men on base while dropping to 4-6 on the season. Let’s hope for a rebound Saturday afternoon.