Franklin Gutierrez, out since Tuesday because of illness, was back in the seventh slot on Saturday night. And despite Gutierrez's 1-for-23 skid, the Indians are glad to have their promising everyday right fielder in the lineup.

The move comes, though, just as the struggling left-field platoon of David Dellucci and Jason Michaels appeared to be using the benefit of playing every day to emerge from their slides.

Dellucci, who went back to the bench against Oakland left-hander Lenny DiNardo on Saturday, has four hits and a walk in his last eight at-bats over three straight starts.

And Michaels has shown noticeable progress during a stretch in which he's started six of seven games. Yes, he's still hitting a hard-to-miss .080. But his double on Friday night just happened to be the first ball to fall during a stretch in which everything -- even multiple balls driven to the wall -- has landed in the opposition's glove.

"I'm seeing the ball really well," said Michaels, who has struck out only twice over his last five starts. "The only thing I can control is my at-bat and trying to hit the ball hard. I can't control getting hits. It's just the way it is."

Of course, he knows that fans don't much care about luck. All they see is an offensive team whose .242 average is the second-lowest in the American League. And nobody has illustrated those struggles more than the duo in left field, which has combined for just six hits all year.

Now Dellucci and Michaels have five hits over the last three games, and it's back to the platoon.

Nobody said this game is easy. And even Dellucci admits to wondering if he could take off offensively if given the chance to play every day for a couple of weeks.

"You can't expect to jump in there and get four hits," Dellucci said. "Even with one day off, you can lose your timing. It's hard."

The Tribe has no plans to begin a three-way shuffle between left and right field. Gutierrez is in Cleveland to play every day.

The solution, then?

"The bottom line is, when you're in a platoon situation, you've got different goals," said Dellucci. "Your job is just to get on base.

"You've got to lower your expectations to something that's easier to accomplish," he added. "Maybe that's getting on base any way you can, two out of four times or whatever. But it's not easy."

Not anymore.