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It’s the first series after the All-Star break. Tribe players had the opportunity to go home, relax, and recharge their batteries for the second half. A fresh start? Not quite. The team seems to still think they are on break. They have just completed Game #90 and the Indians are still displaying the same kind of bad baseball that had them 18 1/2 games back in the Central going into the All-Star break.

Game 1: Poor execution with runners on base. Yes, they won the game, but were more or less bailed out by the four home runs and left several runs on the table.

Game 2: Bullpen. Because the Tribe’s pen has been so out of whack this season, Wedge was forced to use the youngster Mujica in the critical 10th inning, a move which ultimately lost the game.

Game 3: Errors and execution with RISP. Look no further than the first and sixth innings. After errors by Broussard and Belliard, Sabathia found himself in an early and unecessary 2-0 hole. In the sixth, the Tribe had runners on second and third with nobody out and managed to only squeeze one run from it. As good as the Indians offense can be at times, they continue to leave runners in scoring position like it’s their job.

So there you have it. The Tribe continues, for whatever reason, to struggle. The same problems that plagued them in the first half have apparently not gone away and are creeping up once again in the second half. Different series, same story for this beleaguered club.

Right from the start, you almost knew the game wasn’t going to go the Indians’ way. After the Tribe were retired in the top of the first (two by strikeouts), the first batter that came to the plate for the Twins reached on a Ben Broussard fielding error. Nick Punto followed with an RBI double and ended up at third as a result of a Ronnie Belliard throwing error on the relay to the plate. Before he knew it, Sabathia was down 2-0 on two unearned runs. Tribe hitters were once again unable to solve the dominant Twins pitchers as they lost 6-2 Saturday night. Johan Santana gave up only five hits and struck out seven in as many innings to win his tenth of the season. Sabathia went the distance for the Tribe, giving up four earned runs and a season-high 13 hits. Travis Hafner hit his 27th homer of the season off Santana in the second.

“He was pretty normal Santana,” right fielder Casey Blake said, paying the left-hander a compliment. “He’s just tough, because he has just enough to get it by you. If you’re sitting on anything other than his fastball, and he throws you a fastball, you’re just hoping to get a piece of it. If you’re sitting on his fastball, your chances of hitting that changeup are slim.”

With the game tied in the 10th, Twins left-fielder Jason Tyner hit one of his two RBI singles of the game to give Minnesota the 3-2 extra inning win over the Tribe. With the exception of Jason Michaels’ two-run homer in the sixth, the Indians couldn’t do much off starter Brad Radke and the rest of the Twins’ bullpen. The Tribe could only manage six hits in the ballgame. After Paul Byrd exited in the sixth, the pen did its job of holding the Twins scoreless until Ed Mujica surrendered the game-winning hit in the 10th. That breaks an amazing streak of 46 2/3 innings of work for Mujica without allowing an earned run. The long string of innings dates back to early 2006 when he was still in Double-A Akron.

Brad Radke had his trademark changeup working very effectively and the Tribe had difficulties with it all night. He can’t get it up there like he used to, but Radke still knows how to pitch and still possesses above average off-speed stuff. The Indians are a very aggressive team offensively and pitchers with good changeups will always seem to be of concern for the Tribe.