Cabrera Gets it

After all the other players and coaches had quickly headed into the lockerroom late Saturday night, Asdrubal Cabrera sat silently by himself in the dugout, absently staring out onto the field for about five minutes.

Cabrera didn't get a hit in the Aeros 6-1 loss to visiting Reading that included three errors. In taking a few minutes to think about things, he seemed to sense that his team is more than headed in the wrong direction having won just four of their last 15 games.

Even the best baseball teams will go through their share of losing streaks during a 142-game season. But there's something about this prolonged skid that just doesn't bode well for postseason play.

"We're not playing well in all aspects,'' Aeros manager Tim Bogar said. "We're not pitching well, we're not hitting well, we're not running the bases well and we're not fielding well. Our decision making is not very good right now, either. Him sitting out there like that just shows you he knows - and he cares.''

Not to put the entire team's struggles on Cabrera's shoulders, but as Bogar hinted, when he's not playing well, nobody seems to. When he plays well, it provides momentum for the rest.

"He knows he hasn't been hitting well lately, and he takes a little bit of the losing streak on himself,'' Bogar said of Cabrera.

Despite his recent struggles, Cabrera is still batting .312 with 21 doubles, eight homers and 47 RBI. In many other organizations, he'd already be promoted to Triple-A by now.

I'm hoping Cabrera is just tired and not caught up in being worried about a promotion to Buffalo. He's done so much this season to put his name on the lips of the Indians front office staff, all he has to do is finish strong and remain patient.

Of course, the same could be said for the rest of the team.