As I watched the Indians play their first game of the 2010 campaign, against the White Sox in Chicago, I thought it wouldn't be long until my blood pressure reached a point where I could be in the danger zone for a heart attack. Then they won the next two games. I was able to calm down. Things were looking good. A trip to Detroit followed which saw the Indians blow a 7-run lead and lose in the 9th inning. I can remember shouting at the television and thinking to myself "This team is going to lose 100 games and I am going to have to start smoking five packs a day." When the got home for their Jacob's Field opener against the Texas Rangers, I was a bit more optimistic, until the bullpen brought out their gas cans and matches.
After a five-game losing skid, I was ready to write-off the season. But that's how we Indians fans are. It's how we've always been. We, as Clevelanders, are conditioned to expect the worst at the first sign of trouble. Things turned around though. The Tribe was sitting at 2-6, had one game left with the Rangers and then a three-game set with the ChiSox. That last game with Texas was looking grim heading into the 8th inning, that is until the Rangers remembered that they are the Rangers. Two errors and a ChooBomb later, the Indians were on top, 3-2 and David Huff told the men of fire to stay in the 'pen and let him get a complete game. Victory for the Tribe, first career complete game for Huff. Nice.
Now the Sux come into town and we're looking at our number five starter, Mitch Talbot (I never heard of half these guys!) against the perfect-game wielding Mark Buehrle. Paul Konerko, who has been KILLING the Indians for a couple years now, led off the second inning with a homer and every fan had that "Here we go again" feeling. But Talbot retired the next 12 South Siders that came to the plate. Then, in the 4th, the Tribe got on the board with an RBI from Austin Kearns and a 2-run blast from Luis Valbuena (Who had a Grand-Slam wasted in the Motor City). The White Sox got another run in the top of the 6th but Cleveland responded with three of their own in the bottom half, with help from some suspect defense. Talbot shut Chicago down the rest of the way and got HIS first complete game and first victory.
That was two in a row. One more, and we call it a "Winning Streak!" The Indians did just that. After scoring a run in the first inning, the Tribe bats went silent until the 8th inning when Asdrubal Cabrera smacked one out to right field and then Choo doubled home Grady Sizemore to give the Indians a 3-2 lead. Chris Perez then came on, but didn't bring flammable things with him. It was great. The only scary part was the long fly-ball by Konerko but Grady tracked it down.
On Sunday, the Indians went for their, get this, FOURTH straight victory. They started off the game hot, getting three runs in the 1st and then a ChooBomb good for four runs (we call that a Grand-Slam) out the Indians ahead 7-0. After that though, the Indians couldn't find a way to get another run home. The White Sox scored three runs in the 5th and then another in the 9th before Chris Perez came in to finish the job. I don't know what he did to fix himself after the s*** show in Detroit, but he's got four saves now and looking very good.
So, we sit at .500 with a great test over the next nine games as the Indians travel to Minnesota, Oakland and Anaheim. These games will tell us all we need to know about the season. I just hope that it's a positive message that gets sent to the fans, rather than one that shows us just how bad this team really is. If the Indians don't start hitting soon, it's going to be a bad year. This pitching is not going to carry us for the whole season. I hope my blood pressure can take it.
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