Kerry Wood is having a bumpy ride in his first season as a Cleveland Indian.  The former Cubs closer has really been struggling as of late.  Over the weekend, Wood blew two saves against his former Cubs team in his return to Chicago.  Last night, Pittsburgh almost rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the 9th inning to put an exclamation point on how terrible the Indians bullpen is this season.

In his last four appearances, Wood has pitched three innings, given up six hits, three walks, four earned runs and blown two saves.  His ERA over those four games is 12.00, and his overall ERA is currently at 5.68.  These are not the numbers expected when paying someone $21 million.

So what happens?  I believe Wood will be headed to the DL soon.  History is on my side.  I don’t know of any report of injury to Wood at all, but if he blows another save this week, expect his back to ache just to get him cooled off a bit. 

The Indians bullpen obviously is horrible.  No lead is ever safe, regardless of the size of the lead.  I have watched the starters consistently turn in good performances only to play roulette with a group of pitchers who struggle every single time they are called upon.

Wood is the least of the bullpen problems as bad as he has been lately, and that is a pretty sad but true statement.  I can recall at least seven games this season already, when the Indians had at least a three-run lead after five innings and have lost the game.

Eric Wedge needs to go.  He is bringing in the wrong pitchers in the wrong situations and has had zero luck finding a cork for the leaky dam we call the Indians bullpen.  The bullpen, and Wood in particular, need to step it way up and do a better job for the next manager.  Wedge downplayed last nights almost tragic collapse and said, “Wood got the last out and that’s what matters most.”  Wrong Eric, what matters most is the fact that Wood should not have even been used in the game and that you have serious problems behind the fence in your bullpen.

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