After two World Series losses to the Atlanta Braves, the almighty Indians have suddenly become a team that can't hit, field, run the bases, throw strikes, make the right managerial moves. And this just in from the Indian clubhouse on the eve of Game 3 on Tuesday night in Jacobs Field: They're not mad enough.
"I don't think he's as frustrated as I'd like him to be,'' center fielder Kenny Lofton said Monday of Albert Belle, the Cleveland slugger turned sluggish in postseason play, with a .229 average and four errors in 10 games. "I'd like him to break a bat or two to get kick-started."
Belle, who became the first player to hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles in a season, is known for his volatility, his outbursts being the rage of the Indian clubhouse.
"Every day it's a different thing,'' shortstop Omar Vizquel said. "I've seen him throw a cooler, break a telephone, a trophy ... One day we came in and there were cookies all over the place.''
But Belle has been as serene as Atlanta's World Series crowds, and his teammates seem to have chilled out right along with him.
The Indian offense had the highest regular-season team batting average in 45 years, .291, but has slipped to a .224 mark in the playoffs and .125 (eight for 64) in the Series.
The Indians want the old Belle -- and their old offense -- back.
"He's been acting so calm, but maybe if he started breaking some bats he'd start to hit better,'' Vizquel said. "I think I'm going to bring that up to him."
In the other clubhouse, the reputation of the Atlanta Braves' pitching rotation as baseball's best is basically unchallenged. The ability of the big four -- Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery -- has been documented during the Braves' run of success in the '90s. It's their durability that is often overlooked.
Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz and Avery have pitched 6,483 2/3 major league innings without once having visited the disabled list. In the four seasons beginning in 1992, the big four has missed a total of four starts.
Smoltz, scheduled to face the Cleveland Indians in Game 3 of the World Series on Tuesday night, has not pitched in a game since his victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series almost two weeks ago.
He said that he felt ready, in large part because of the Braves' system of frequent, but low-intensity, throwing to build strength and proper mechanics.
"If I didn't have this program to rely on, it would be tough to go into this start and expect to be sharp," he said. "It's something we all do ... me, Glavine, Maddux, Avery, and everybody has good mechanics.''
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