Laffey, who will start tonight’s game against the White Sox, has been on the disabled list with a right oblique strain since May 23rd. So far with Cleveland this year he has gone 3-1 with a 3.93 ERA (34.1IP, 32H, 15R/ER, 19BB, 19K) in 10 games/ 4 starts. He made 4 rehab starts between AA Akron and AAA Columbus going 0-1 with a 6.91 ERA (14.1IP, 21H, 11R/ER, 10BB, 9K) most recently starting on July 3 for Columbus (L, 4.0IP, 10H, 7ER). In 4 starts for the Indians this year he was 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA (22.0IP, 21H, 10ER, 15BB, 10K) before being moved to the bullpen on May 6th.

Perez has gone 1-2 w/a 8.88 ERA in 31 appearances (25.1IP, 37H, 25R/ER, 18BB, 21K) over two stints with Cleveland this year.

Yes, the Indians latest bullpen fall guy was at it again Tuesday night in Chicago, as he gave up a grand slam to Indian killer Paul Konerko as the White Sox scored 9 runs in their last three at-bats to top the Tribe 10-6.

Konerko hit three bombs on the night, driving in 7 runs. Per usual, Jeremy Sowers was pretty good through 5 innings, holding the White Sox to a single run as the Indians led the contest 2-1 entering the bottom of the 6th. Ah but alas, Jeremy would not let us down, as he gave up a double, single and a walk all with one out to load the bases for Konerko.

Enter Perez, who at least this time didn’t hit anyone like in his first Indians outing vs Chicago last week. Instead, he just allowed the worst possible thing to happen, a bases clearing bomb that quickly gave the Sox a 5-2 lead. Of course Perez wasn’t the only comedy act out of the bullpen Tuesday - we also got a chuckle from new Indian Winston “don’t call me Bobby” Abreu.

All he did was allow 80 percent of the batters he faced to score. He gave up a walk (a steal of second), a homer to Alexi Ramirez, a strikeout (his only out recorded), a single, and then Konerko’s third homer of the night, a two-run blast that made it a 10-2 route.

Abreu’s line - 0.1 innings, three hits, four runs, one walk, one strikeout, and two homers. While he couldn’t top Perez’s ERA of 23.14, his whopping 11.25 fits in nicely with the crap that is otherwise known as the Tribe bullpen in 2009.

About the only bright spot was Grady Sizemore, who hit two homers to bring his total to 13 on the season. He went 2-for-4 with three RBI and the two dingers. Shin-Soo Choo also homered (13) and Travis Hafner went 2-for-4 with a RBI and is now batting .281.

Other than that, it was once again the joke of a bullpen and the usual 6th inning meltdown of Sowers that made this outcome one that we’ve seen all too often in 2009.

Lee was once again not nearly as impressive as he was earlier in the season, as he went six innings, allowing three runs on 8 hits with four walks and three strikeouts. He threw 112 pitches in the six innings to an A’s team that was losers in 8 of their last 10 games, and had struggled in the first two games at Progressive Field over the weekend.

The Indians offense basically took a day off, as Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez, who entered Sunday with an ERA of 7.27, held them in check for a good portion of the day. Gonzlaez went 6 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He walked just one and got the free swinging Indians to wiff on a career-high for him 8 strikeouts.

The win for the A’s pitcher was his first of the season, and came at a time where the Indians had found some offense, scoring 20 runs in two games over the weekend to date. Maybe the club had used all their fireworks Friday and Saturday, and couldn’t afford many more runs as they get set to head to the road before the All-Star break.

Lee has had two tough outings in losing two in a row after two straight no decisions. Against the White Sox June 30th he allowed 7 runs on 11 hits in just three innings. While he clearly was better against the A’s, he still seemed to be a bit off, and the fact the offense did little probably didn’t give him much confidence to work with.

Oakland scored a run in the first off Lee, then the Indians tied it off Gonzalez with a Grady Sizemore double to bring in Jamey Carroll. Oakland put up single runs in the 5th and 6th to make it 3-1, but again the Indians rallied. They got a homer from Jhonny Peralta (5th) to make it 3-2.

The A’s though got a run in the 8th off a double play ball, and then in the 9th sealed the deal with an Orlando Cabrera homer (3rd) to make it 5-2. The A’s lone All-Star, pitcher Andrew Bailey stopped the Indians with 1.1 innings allowing just one hit to close out the Oakland win.

The loss puts the Indians at 33-50 after 83 games. They will play in Chicago on Tuesday after a day off Monday.

The AP had the following today about Wedge’s job being safe for the rest of the season:

Eric Wedge’s job is safe for the rest of the season.

Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro said Sunday that the manager and his coaching staff would remain in their jobs with the last-place Indians.

“As I’ve said all along, the responsibility for the disappointments of this season don’t rest on one person,” Shapiro said. “The responsibility is spread equally throughout the players, the front office, Eric and his staff.

“I thought it was important for the second half to remove a potential distraction that exists from that speculation.”

The Indians, expected to contend in the AL Central Division, are 33-49, the worst record in the league.

Wedge, in his seventh season as Indians manager, is signed through 2010. The Indians are 529-525 under Wedge. They won the Central in 2007 and came within a game of reaching the World Series and Wedge won AL Manager of the Year.

So while the rest of the city seems to want Wedge’s head for what is going to be another lost season, the club does not appear ready to do anything till at the least the offseason, and who knows even then if anything will be done?

The long ball was the teams best friend on this 4th of July night, as Ben Francisco went deep off of A’s starter Vin Mazzaro in the third inning to give the Tribe a 3-1 lead. Grady Sizemore went deep in the 6th to pad the lead to 4-1. The Indians allowed a run in the 7th to make it 4-2, but then Sizemore got a RBI ground out in the 7th to push the lead to the final of 5-2.

For Francisco, he went 3-for-3 to push his average to .246 on the year. His homer was his 6th of the season and he also stole third. Sizemore’s blast was his 11th of the season, and he went 2-for-4 with two RBI and is batting .230 on the season. The Indians pounded out 10 hits to the A’s 8.

Carl Pavano was not spectacular, but was good enough to get the win to improve to 7-7 on the season. He allowed a run in the first, but then settled down and went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on 8 hits with two walks and three strikeouts. His ERA drops to 5.36 on the season. Tony Sipp, Joe Smith and Kerry Wood rounded out the night on the mound for the Indians, with Wood earning his 10th save.

If the Indians can complete the sweep of the A’s Sunday, they will wrap up the homestand 4-5. While it’s still under .500, considering they were 1-2 vs the Reds and then were swept by the White Sox, they will take it. Sunday is also a shot for Cliff Lee to get on track after his awful outing last week vs the Sox. He’ll go for the Indians vs Gio Gonzalez (0-2, 7.27).

Abreu, 32, was acquired on Thursday, July 2 from the Tampa Bay Rays for RHP John Meloan and cash. He spent the majority of the 2009 season at AAA Durham where he went 3-0 with 10 saves and a 1.41 ERA (32.0IP, 14H, 5R/ER, 10BB, 49K) in 23 appearances. He was recalled to Tampa Bay on June 14th and appeared in 2 games (2.45ERA, 3.2IP, 3H, 1R/ER, 2BB, 3K) for the Rays before being designated for assignment on June 27th. This year at Durham he was a perfect 10 of 10 in save opportunities. He limited AAA hitters to a .128 (14-109) average, including a mark of .061 (4-66) against right-handed hitters, while averaging 13.8 strikeouts per 9.0IP. His last appearance w/TB came on June 23 vs. Philadelphia (2.2IP, 1H, 0R).

Herges has been with the Indians since May 6 and was 2-1 w/a 3.55 ERA in 21 appearances out of the ‘pen (25.1IP, 24H, 10ER, 6BB, 18K).

Abreu will be wearing #59.

The night belonged to outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who belted two homers and had a career-high 7 RBI. It’s his second career two homer game, and he was 4-for-5 with a stolen base to go along with it (13-for-13 in that department this season). There’s no denying that Choo has become a bright spot in this dark season, as following Friday’s game he’s hitting .301 with 12 homers and 53 RBI.

The win for the Indians breaks their five game winning streak, and considering they scored just 13 total runs in that five-game streak, it was nice to see an offense that was supposed to be much better than what it’s showed finally round into form, even if it’s just for one night.

Oakland though are by no means world beaters, as they are now 33-45, last place in the AL West. No one mistakes this team whatsoever for those great A’s teams in the late 80’s and early 90’s with players like Jose Conseco, Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach and pitchers like Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley.

Instead, this A’s team rolls out players like Matt Holliday, an over the hill Jason Giambi, Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Sweeney, and more real no name players that will never make Oakland into any sort of force in the American League.

Back to the Indians, the club pounded out 15 hits with their 15 runs, and other than Choo’s two dingers, Travis Hafner also got in on the action, hitting a solo shot in the 2nd inning for the Indians first run after they trailed early 2-0. For Hafner, it was his 9th homer of the season.

After Oakland scored single runs in the first and second off of starter David Huff, the Indians offense caught fire, scoring the single run in the 2nd, three in the 3rd, four in the 4th, five in the fifth, and then single runs each in the 6th and 7th for the 15 spot on the scoreboard.

Huff went 6 innings, allowing three runs on 8 hits to earn his 4th win against 3 losses. He walked one and struck out four in the win.

Saturday at 7:05pm the team will celebrate the 4th with another fireworks display (Friday night’s was a Michael Jackson tribute that lasted about 14 minutes). Oakland will go with Vin Mazzaro (2-3, 2.95) vs Carl Pavano (6-7, 5.56) for the Tribe.

Abreu, 32, who was signed by the Rays to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training on February 4th, has spent the majority of the 2009 season at AAA Durham where he went 3-0 with 10 saves and a 1.41 ERA (32.0IP, 14H, 5R/ER, 10BB, 49K) in 23 appearances. He was recalled to Tampa Bay on June 14th and appeared in 2 games (2.45ERA, 3.2IP, 3H, 1R/ER, 2BB, 3K) for the Rays before being designated for assignment on June 27th. This year at Durham he has struck out 49 and walked just 10 while being a perfect 10 of 10 in save opportunities. Abreu has limited AAA hitters to a .128 (14-109) average including a mark of .061 (4-66) against right-handed hitters while averaging 13.8 strikeouts per 9.0IP.

The 6-2, 170-pound right-hander spent the 2008 season pitching for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese Pacific League under Manager Bobby Valentine. In 20 appearances with the Marines he was 1-2 with a 3.32 ERA (21.2IP, 23H, 9R/8ER, 8BB, 24K) before having surgery to remove bone chips in his right elbow on June 6th. Abreu last appeared in the Majors in 2007 with the Washington Nationals where he was 0-1 with a 5.93 ERA (30.1IP, 37H, 21R/20ER, 9BB, 26K) in 26 appearances out of the bullpen. He owns a career Major League record of 0-1 with a 6.43 ERA (42.0IP, 50H, 32R/30ER, 17BB, 35K) in 35 career games with Baltimore (2006), Washington (2007) and Tampa Bay.

Meloan was 0-0 with a save and a 5.52 ERA (44.0IP, 52H, 27R/ER, 17BB, 37K) in 25 games, including 2 starts at AAA Columbus.

While those days are long gone, things are quickly eroding at Progressive Field, and a team that is now 18 games under .500 is seeing less and less fans show up.  The team is in a five-game losing streak, and has lost 13 of 15, and the lack of fans at the ballpark should let them now truly how disinterested they are.

Over the last three games vs Chicago, Monday through Wednesday, the Indians averaged a sorry 15,720 for the each of the three games.  The three games total drew just 47,160, only a few thousand over what a sellout at Progressive Field would be.

It will be interesting to see how many people pay money to watch the two worst teams in the AL this weekend - the Indians and A’s.  Oakland comes into town in dead last in the AL West, with the Indians sinking towards new lows in the AL Central.  And not many people may be around to watch.

Sowers lasted six innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts. The big blow of the contest was a three-run bomb by catcher Ramon Castro to break open a tie game. Sowers is now 0-5 with a 6.23 ERA in six lifetime starts against the White Sox. Ouch.

Chicago used the three games here in Cleveland to batter Indians pitching, out scoring the Indians 23-9 in the sweep. It was the 5th time this season that the Indians were swept by the opposition. The team has now lost five in a row, 13 of 15 and 8 of their last 9 at home. They are now 1-5 in this 9-game homestand.

They scored their first run of the game in the 3rd, as a Grady Sizemore ground out got a run in. After Chicago went up 5-1 in the 6th, the Indians came back with a run on a Shin-Soo Choo double to make it 5-2. It was over after that, as the offense went into the shell that has killed them most of the year. They managed just five hits and left five on base.

The team now sits at 31-49, and are 13.5 back of the Tigers in the Central. The team gets an off day on Thursday, and then welcome in the equally as bad Oakland A’s for a July 4th weekend series.