Indians Keep Underachieving Cleveland Management, Fans Wait For Roster To Fulfill Itself

The message came from the executive offices of Jacobs Field, where John Hart has been pacing, cursing and scribbling notes for much of this frustrating season.

A baseball guy trapped in management threads, Hart had assembled a $52 million payroll he thought was talented enough to win the A.L. Central, and more.

But for much of this year, he has been asking the same question as Cleveland fans: When are the Indians going to start playing like the Indians?

“We’re in a fight for our lives,” said Hart. “People in our division have been waiting for us to take off, and we haven’t done it.”

Though the Indians are still the team to beat in the A.L. Central, Hart used terms like “underachieving” and “aggravating” in taking stock of his club with two months to play. The problems were never more evident than during a 4-10 homestand that ended last week with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Anaheim Angels.

On the morning of the July 31 trade deadline, a frustrated Jim Thome called Hart.

“What are we going to do?” said Thome, one of 10 players left from the 1995 postseason roster. “Let’s go. I can’t sleep at night when we’re playing like this.”

With three starting pitchers on the disabled list, Hart took action. He acquired left-hander John Smiley from Cincinnati and right-hander Jeff Juden from Montreal.

His message to the team couldn’t have been clearer: I delivered. Now, it’s your turn.

“This club has got to realize that we believe in it,” said Hart, who was wearing a pin with “Attitude” printed on it. “This is the club we wanted. If they want this Central Division, it’s right there.”

The Indians responded with two consecutive road victories over the Texas Rangers. They got a strong debut from Smiley and seemed to regain their home-run swings.

But as they have much of the year, the Indians then took a step back, blowing a two-run lead in the ninth inning to lose to the Rangers 8-7 and miss out on a sweep of Texas.

Two days later, Cleveland stranded 10 runners and Juden gave up six walks in his debut as the Indians lost to Detroit 6-4.

That’s not welcome news in Cleveland, where 100-loss seasons were once common but fans now expect more than division titles. Hart, who fearlessly traded the core of Cleveland’s 1995 Word Series team, has been frustrated, too.

“I can’t do anything about it,” Hart said. “That’s not my job. I supply the players.”

That invective seemed aimed directly at manager Mike Hargrove, who got a two-year contract extension in May.

“If we don’t play well, somebody has to be held accountable,” Hargrove said. “It’s my responsibility.”

The A.L. Central was expected to come down to a duel between Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox, but with the race now seemingly between the Indians and Milwaukee Brewers, Hart maintains he has done his part.

“I guarantee you, if we called up the Milwaukee Brewers and said, ‘Let’s trade rosters,’ it wouldn’t take them a second to do it,” he said.