Rookie Jeremy Sowers had one bad inning Sunday afternoon, but showed great composure and poise for a kid his age. He has cruised through the minor leagues and looked like he was going to do the same against the Reds until the fourth inning. Sowers may not have dominant stuff and he may only top out at 90, but he as the ability to spot his pitches and has excellent command of the strike zone and he showed that Sunday. He is the type of pitcher that can work both sides of the plate with ease and can make hitters hit his pitch, even if he doesn’t throw hard. Sowers and the Tribe lost the game, but if nothing else, the young kid has a lot to build on and seems to have a bright future with the club.

“You never know what to expect when it’s a guy’s first start,” manager Eric Wedge said. “But his composure was fantastic. He repeated his delivery and threw well.”

The Indians’ pitching coach is equally as impressed.

“I was impressed with the way he handled himself,” Willis said. “That’s what’s going to allow him to move forward. It’s something inside that’s hard to learn.”

In his much awaited major league debut, lefty Jeremy Sowers gave up four runs in five innings as the Indians lost to the Reds 4-2 in the rubber match of the series. Once again, the Tribe failed to win a series for the seventh time in a row. All of Sowers’ earned runs came in the fourth when he surrendered a pair of two-run homers to Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn. Travis Hafner and Todd Hollandsworth had the two RBIs for the Tribe, whose offense continues to sputter. In their last four games, the Indians have only scored eight runs and have left too many runners on base.

“We’re definitely not as polished as earlier this year,” Wedge said of his offense. “We’re missing a couple guys, but that’s no excuse. These guys have to get the job done.”

As it stands now, the Indians sit 17 games behind the Central-leading Tigers. With the way both teams are playing, we could very easily be 20 or more games out by the All-Star break, if not sooner. If I were Mark Shapiro, the likes of Bob Wickman, Aaron Boone, Ben Broussard, and even Paul Byrd should seriously start to be considered as far as trade talks go.