Starting Five: At Least Cleveland Has a Basketball Team

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Indians are trying to find rock bottom.

"It would be nice to win some of these games," pitcher Cliff Lee said. "I think a lot of them we could have won if we had done some things a little different."

Cleveland has lost four straight games to fall to 14-26, blowing leads in three of them, including a seven-run lead last Friday and a four-run lead Tuesday.

The latter included letting a three-run lead in the ninth inning at Kansas City evaporate, as closer Kerry Wood (right) allowed two homers and a triple in a four-run rally.

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"You have to get that job done," Wood said.

The Tribe bullpen has one save (a three-inning cheapie in a 9-2 win) and five blown saves in the past 17 games. Cleveland has not once beaten the same opponent in consecutive games,

"It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up," said manager Eric Wedge, who tried a minor lineup shakeup by dropping Grady Sizemore (.215) from leadoff to second.

"These guys will keep getting up."

From the Trainer's Room ...
Orlando Hudson, hitting. 341 with 14 doubles and 29 runs scored for the Dodgers, left Tuesday's game with a bruised shoulder, suffered when he unsuccessfully dove for a Jose Reyes single. The team said Hudson is day-to-day.

Numbers Game ...
After opening the season on the disabled list, Trevor Hoffman has made 10 appearances for Milwaukee and not allowed a run. Opposing hitters are 3-for-35 (.086) against Hoffman.

In Their Own Words ...
"We had a little meeting after the game and talked about trying to [re-]invent the game. They're coming up with things. We're trying to invent stuff. You can't just do that in a game. You have to play the game,. ... It's getting a little quiet on the bench and that's not acceptable. We're all about nine innings and getting after it. So we had a little bit of a talk about that." – Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, whose team has lost five straight and 12 of 17.

Advance Scouting ...
Two of the hottest pitchers in the majors square off tonight in Detroit (7:05 PM, ET). Tigers ace Justin Verlander has struck out 44 batters in 29 1/3 innings over his past four starts, going 3-0 with a 0.92 ERA. Meanwhile, Rangers lefty Matt Harrison (who at 23 is three years younger than Verlander) has pitched two straight complete games and in his past four outings is 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA. The last pitcher 23 or younger to throw three straight complete games was Pedro Astacio in 1993.