2004 PREVIEW Tribe facing crucial April

The Indians started 7-20 in the first month of last season.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Jacobs Field turns 10 this month, and the Indians will celebrate the ballpark's anniversary all season by looking back at a decade's worth of great memories.
Enjoy them all, Cleveland fans. There may not be too many new ones made at the Jake this year.
Coming off a 94-loss season -- their worst since 1991 -- the youthful Indians, who had nine rookies in their starting lineup at times late last season, are a year older.
What remains to be seen is if they're much better.
"No doubt, this year is big for us," said 23-year-old ace C.C. Sabathia, who in his fourth season remains the club's youngest player. "We need to make a jump, and I think we can -- for sure."
AL Central not that tough
Fortunately, the Indians reside in the balanced but bland AL Central where hurdling from fourth place to title contention doesn't require a giant leap of faith.
Planets may not have to align for the Indians to move up in the standings. However, it will take some unique circumstances for Cleveland to return to its days of divisional dominance when the only thing a visiting team could count on in Cleveland was a beating.
"I like our team," said 36-year-old shortstop Omar Vizquel, the lone holdover from the Indians' World Series teams in 1995 and '97. "We've got a lot of young guys who are real hungry. They make me feel younger."
There are enough positive signs -- a stocked minor-league system, good starting pitching and a committed front office -- to believe the Indians aren't far from being competitive again.
"The right steps are being taken for that to happen," said former manager and current senior adviser Mike Hargrove, who guided the Indians to five straight division crowns and two AL pennants in the 1990s. "It's going in the right direction."
Talented pitching
The club can count on its young but talented pitching rotation led by Sabathia to keep things from slipping into reverse. That is, as long as Cleveland's staff gets some run support.
The Indians scored 699 runs last season, ahead of only Detroit's 591 in the AL. And without a bona fide slugger in the lineup this season, the club will have to make the most of scoring opportunities -- or the losses will multiply quickly.
"Everybody has to contribute," said left fielder Matt Lawton, finally healthy after being slowed by injuries for two years. "We don't have those two or three guys in the middle of the lineup hitting 40 home runs and carrying us."
Bradley on way out
Milton Bradley had been expected to shoulder some of the offensive load, but his days in Cleveland appear to be over. The Indians broke training camp trying to trade their talented but troubled center fielder, who finally crossed manager Eric Wedge's line one too many times.
Bradley's imminent departure will give playing time in center to either speedster Coco Crisp or Alex Escobar with Jody Gerut in right and Lawton in left.
April has never been so important for the Indians. They dug a hole for themselves by going 7-20 in the first month last season, setting the tone for five more cruel months.
Beginning with Monday's opener at Minnesota, Cleveland will play 22 of 23 April games against AL Central opponents with 13 coming against Kansas City and the Twins -- the division's projected co-favorites.
A good start also is essential for ticket sales, which have plummeted at a pace that parallels the Indians' payroll, now down to $42 million after peaking at $93 million in 2001.
"We need to get people to believe in us," Sabathia said.
Need to get good start
As much as Wedge tries to minimize the importance of one month over the others, he understands that a similarly slow start to this season could spell doom.
"We want to come out of April and make sure we're in decent shape," he said. "There were a lot of things that happened last year that we didn't expect that had a lot to do with our record."
Injuries to key veterans were a big reason for Cleveland's record sliding back to those dark and forgettable days in old Municipal Stadium.
Lawton, Vizquel and closer Bob Wickman were sidelined for long stretches, forcing young players into the lineup before they may have been ready.
Cleveland is counting on that learning-on-the-fly experience to pay dividends for youngsters like Gerut, Victor Martinez and Ben Broussard.
"Last year, we were in survival mode," said Broussard, who played 114 games at first base in 2003. "We all just wanted to be major leaguers. Now we have to prove we belong here."