The Season Thus Far

As I'm trying to come up with a witty first sentence for my first post I'll go with this... This post (as well as all of them in the future) will get as views as A Goofy Movie's soundtrack got. I'm using that simile because it's the most underrated album of all-time and I'll be content if this blog becomes that.

Before the season started two of my buddies from school (long live the vest) tried to get me to put some money down on the Indians to win the central. They were something like 25:1 or 30:1 and as much as I wanted to make the wager, I declined to do so. Maybe it was because I'm incredibly lazy, maybe it's because I thought my buddies weren't serious, but one thing all of my friends will tell you is that I rarely turn down a chance to gamble.  Two years ago I bet my roommate even money that Carlos Santana would get a hit in his current at bat... twice in a row. Any person with any baseball knowledge will tell you how incredibly dumb that was of me but I did it anyways (and won both times, thanks Carlos you won me 20 hot dogs on dime a dog night).  However, I didn't put money on the Indians to win the central this year even though one of my buddies put $20 on them.  Do I regret it? Of course; however, not making the bet gives me a sense of satisfaction every time I watch the team win and even when I find myself pulling my hair out after each heart-wrenching loss.  I know that I am as passionate as I am because I care about them, not the money.

After the first two games of the season against the White Sox, I thought this was going to be a very very VERY long season; sixty wins seemed impossible (that'd be 102 losses). Then Santana started a triple play and in the third game of the season the Tribe made a U-turn. The team went on to win eight straight games and gave up 14 runs in that stretch, not even two runs a game.  We went on that run and then on that other one.  During that other one I kept saying that if the record fell under .500, even if it was just one game that there would be a catastrophic collapse that followed.  Of course, I also said that after about five individual games we'd see that collapse and appear to have been completely wrong so who knows how my .500 prediction would have held up.  However, the scrappy group of "dirtbags" are yet to get below that mark and I am ever so grateful.  Something else happened this year that was completely different.  The Indians, during their stretch of below mediocre play in which the Tribe looked to be on the verge of becoming the Pirates, the stretch of play where they were the third worst team in the AL, the team made moves at the deadline.  We always make moves at the trade deadline, but this year we took our biggest fish and sent them packing.  Our top two pitching prospects became that for another group of heartbroken fans sending away an ace.  We got someone with Cy Young caliber stuff instead of getting rid of them.  I know you're thinking Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia but don't forget about Bartolo Colon.  This current homestand seems to be the third and hopefully final part of the story that has been the Cleveland Indians 2011 campaign as they have clearly played much better baseball of late.  The pieces looked like they were starting to come together on the roadtrip that preceded this homestand; however, the team couldn't quite get it all together until they returned to the friendly confines of The Jake where the magic of the 90s is back... I mean The Prog. Let's all just hope Detroit finds a way to play below their capabilities like they did at the start of the year before we start dreaming about having Masterson and Ubaldo matching up against the Beasts in the East in October.