Shortly before two former-Indian Cy Young award winners face off in the World Series, the Tribe has a new manager: former Washington Nationals skipper Manny Acta.
Honestly, who knows if this is a good hire or not. He does have experience managing a major league team. But his record as a manager is 158-252 (.385). Then again, he was coaching a terrible Nationals team.
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With the major league baseball regular season coming to a close, the remains of the summer are swept away. The Cleveland Indians wrapped up the 2009 season by losing 12-7 to the Red Sox. Their season is now officially over, but in practical terms, the season was over long before this.
I’ll have more to say about this in a few days.
Most of the time, when it comes to sports, I wish I had some way to watch my teams play. Living 500 miles from Cleveland, it’s not often that I can catch a game on TV. But this summer, I really don’t mind. The Indians are just having one of those years.
They should be better than this. They were one win away from the World Series in ‘07. Last year, after starting flat, they finished the year at .500. This year was supposed to be better.
But now we’ve finally come to the All-Star break. The Tribe has the worst record in the American League (35-54) and are 14 games out of first place in a weak Central Division. There is no hope for this team for this year. So I’m officially tuning them out, which is much easier to do than it would be if I was living up there. I am now looking forward to next year.
No more trying to keep up with the games. No more trying to figure out what the team needs to do to challenge the division leaders. I’m done. I’ll pay attention to trades and other roster moves, as they will affect next year. But I’m done following this season.
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Mark DeRosa’s 7th inning grand slam was the difference in the game. The Tribe takes the first from KC and in the process, moves a half game ahead of the Royals for fourth place in the Central division.
Hey, after the Cavaliers’ disappointing exit in the Eastern Conference Finals and the miserable start to this season, we might as well appreciate the little things (like moving out of last place).
As it stands right now, the Indians are 7 games out of first place. The way this season has gone, the wild card team will likely come from the East (as usual). So any playoff hope will have to come from the Tribe winning the division. We’ll see how this summer plays out.
The Tribe’s magic number for clinching the division now stands at 111.
I know, I know. With the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals after finishing the team’s best regular season ever, and with the Indians terrible start, the Tribe has been ignored. Rightfully so.
But now it looks like the Indians could be turning this season around. Tonight they completed a 4-game sweep of the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays. The team improved their record to 21-28. Still not good. But 6.5 games back in the mediocre A.L. Central.
Four games is not enough to say the team has fixed their problems and could now be a contender. But it is a step in the right direction. Next the Yankees come to town for 4 games. Let’s see if the good play will continue.
After losing 2 of 3 to the Royals in Kansas City last week, the Tribe came home and evened the season series between the two teams.
Tuesday, with home runs from Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez, and the defense turning a double play in six straight innings, the Indians won the opener 8-7.
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Just looking at the wins & losses, the Indians and Yankees looked like they came out even in the four-game series the two teams just wrapped up. That may be true, but here are three reasons why the Tribe had the better series:
#1 - The Yankees’ first game in their brand new $1.5 billion stadium was an 8-run loss. Not only that, but Cleveland’s reigning Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee got the win. Former Indian and 2007 Cy Young award winner CC Sabathia, despite a new $161 million contract, could not beat his former team. He didn’t pitch bad. But he had to give it up to the bullpen which blew the game by allowing a 9-run 7th inning.
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