One of the more revealing moments in this Indians season happened on Friday, Sept. 4, when the Indians' starting left fielder was utility infielder Jamey Carroll. The Indians were short on outfielders that night because Shin-Soo Choo had left the team to be with his wife, who was about to have a babey, and Trevor Crowe, who was activated off the disabled list the day before was not able to play the outfield. This raises a couple obvious questions: First, why was Crowe activated if he was still hurt enough that he couldn't play the outfield? And, secondly, how, with major league rosters able to be expanded in September, could the Indians run out of players for ANY position?

Playing an infielder in the outfield because you don't have enough outfielders in the month of September, when teams are allowed to expand their rosters up to 40 players, if they so choose, is inexcusable. It's also the latest in a series of strange decisions made by Indians officials throughout this season.

The decision to start Carroll in the outfield instead of the injured Crowe carried with it considerable irony as well. The Indians chose not to play Crowe in the outfield because he was injured, yet they played Grady Sizemore in the outfield virtually the entire season even though Sizemore was not only injured, but injured to the point that he needed not one but two surgeries.

It's been not just a bad Indians season, but a very strange one.