So far the Indians have done that once this season, which goes a long way in explaining their 12-22 record and Tuesday night's 7-4 loss to the White Sox.

Take Jeremy Sowers, for instance. Sowers started Tuesday because the Indians had to put undefeated Aaron Laffey in the bullpen just so they could get a couple of outs at crunch time.

Since taking Laffey's spot in the rotation, Sowers is 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA.

That includes Tuesday night's mugging by Jim Thome, who hit two left-on-left two-run homers off Sowers to give him 547 for his career and 183 at Progressive Field.

Thome came in hitting .212 (18-for-85) with four homers and 14 RBI. That is one link that he still has with his old club - slow starts. Thome's track record says he'll eventually right himself. The Indians have wandered so far off the tracks this season that there's no telling when or if they'll ever emerge from the darkness.

Sowers allowed five runs on seven hits in four innings. In two starts, he's allowed 12 runs on 12 hits in nine innings.

"He struggled with his command," Wedge said. "He almost squeezed out five innings, but he left his fastball out over the plate with some elevation, and that's what hurt him."

Sowers is hardly the only Indian caught in management's mad scramble to save the season.

After riding the bench for four games, prospect Matt LaPorta started at first base against Chicago. It's a position he hasn't played regularly since his senior year at Florida.

Things went fine until the seventh with Chicago leading, 5-4.

Chris Getz sent a grounder to second that pulled LaPorta off the bag. He circled back to first, took Asdrubal Cabrera's throw, but couldn't find the base with his foot. Getz was safe, LaPorta was charged with an error and the game was about to slip away from the Indians .

Jensen Lewis struck out Jermaine Dye as lefty Tony Sipp relieved to face Thome. Sipp, another player like Sowers or LaPorta who wouldn't be here if the Indians' season had started as planned, walked Thome. Then he walked Paul Konerko to load the bases.

Sipp struck out Josh Fields, which would have been the third out if LaPorta had been able to find first base with his foot earlier in the inning. Since it wasn't, Sipp had to face catcher Corky Miller. Sipp's first two pitches were balls. His third landed in left field for a two-run single and a 7-4 Chicago lead.

"I'm making it hard on myself in a really talented league," Sipp said. "I got the strikeout and had a little momentum going, and then I throw two balls to Miller. So I've got to throw a fastball in a fastball count. That's something I've got to get better at."

Ideally, he'd be doing that in Class AAA Columbus. But the Indians haven't been in an ideal situation since they opened the season with five straight losses.

Thome, greeted with a mixture of boos and cheers from the crowd of 16,760, gave Chicago a 2-0 lead with a first-inning homer. Ben Francisco made it 2-1 against lefty Clayton Richard with a two-out double in the second, but Sowers gave up his second of three homers, a leadoff drive to left by Jayson Nix, to put Chicago ahead, 3-1, in the third.

Jhonny Peralta's two-out, run-scoring single in the third made it 3-3. In the fourth, Cabrera blooped a ground rule-double down the left-field line for a 4-3 lead with one out. Hector Carrasco (1-0) intentionally walked Victor Martinez to load the bases and struck out Mark DeRosa and Shin-Soo Choo.

"We've got to push across at least one run there," Wedge said.

Thome, whose 547 homers are one shy of tying Mike Schmidt for 13th place on the all-time list, hit his second of the game in the fifth to put Chicago ahead to stay, 5-4.

"It's always fun hitting in this park," said Thome, who has 14 career homers against the Tribe. "When I step in that box, it has a good feel."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158