Though I'm only 19, I consider myself fairly well schooled in baseball history. But the Indians, well, the Indians have stumped me.

Then again, what else should we expect from this failure of a season?

Today, Cleveland traded starting first baseman Ben Broussard to the Mariners for outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. Cash and a player to be named later were also part of the deal. So now Cleveland has dealt the Mariners not one but two first baseman (Eduardo Perez being the other) in less than a month. Though I'm sure it's happened before, two major league players from the same team and position traded to the same team, I have no clue when.

Basically, the first base platoon that Mark Shapiro envisioned pushing the Tribe to the postseason now does its business in the heart of Starbucks country, giving a jolt to the M's own postseason surge (3.5 games out of the AL West).

Did I say in the heart of Starbucks country? Actually, all Broussard needed to do today was clean out his locker and move a few hundred feet across Jacobs Field, as Seattle starts a series against the Indians tomorrow.

Shin-Soo Choo now joins the major league roster. Seems like he was tearing it up in AAA. I just read Mark Shapiro's comments about Choo:(http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060726&content_id=1576695&vkey=news_cle&fext=.jsp&c_id=cle)

Once Shapiro calls Choo "this player". Another time, "this guy". Never refers to Mr. Choo by his name. Now, how are we supposed to get excited about a player who the GM doesn't even call by his name?

More good news from downtown Cleveland; I had the honor and pleasure of attending today's Indians game, a masterful 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Tigers. The Tribe: 1) Failed to get hits with runners in scoring position; 2) Failed to advance even more runners into scoring position when given the chance; 3) Failed to finish off Tiger hitters after getting ahead 0-2 or 1-2 in the count (ahem, C.C., sixth and seventh innings).

Failed, failed, failed. If you had to calculate the Indians season on a GPA scale, they would have been held back a year. Sent to summer school. Lucky to earn a GED.

But hey, at least I got to see Joe Inglett's first career home run today! I'll always remember this date, because with the write-ups Joe's been getting recently in the Plain Dealer, he's basically a combination of Ted Williams with the bat, Robbie Alomar with the glove and Gandhi off the field. If only we'd called him up sooner, we'd be right in the thick of things!

Terrible, terrible, terrible. Another lost season. I can't wait for next year, when we can watch Superman Joe Inglett at second base and "that player" playing right field for a full season.