| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| Jamey Carroll | .131 | Cliff Lee | -.287 |
| Casey Blake | .084 | Michael Aubrey | -.130 |
| Jensen Lewis | .028 | Victor Martinez | -.106 |
Let's get this out of the way first: the Indians cannot win a game as presently constituted if the starting pitcher does not go at least six innings and allow less than four runs. And three runs allowed is pushing it.
Cliff Lee finally came back to earth, giving up 10 hits and five runs in 5.2 innings. Last year, we would have taken that kind of outing from Cliff, and besides, the offense was actually capable of winning a shootout. Those fastballs which were formerly kept to the edges of the plate found their way to the middle of the zone, and most of them got hit hard somewhere.
The Indians' offense "exploded" for four runs on eleven hits. with most of those hits spread throughout the starting lineup. Michael Aubrey got his first major-league hit in the fourth inning, a home run. Jamey Carroll was on base three times; sadly, he's had one of the better on-base percentage on the team.
Yes, they were facing NL ERA leader Edinson Volquez, but at what point do we stop clinging to the desperate idea that the Indians have faced twenty straight great pitching performances? And when are other fans going to catch on that their pitchers aren't actually shutting down a good offense?