What keeps Cleveland Indians fans from getting too excited? Memories of 1988. That year the Indians started out with 14 wins and 3 losses but finished with 78 wins and 84 losses. The news back then was we were in a two division format and were not facing the White Sox, Royals and Twins 18 times. The only team in the AL East at the time with us that is also in the AL Central was the Tigers.
The American League Central so far is showing itself to be a two-team division so far. The Twins have injury problems. Joe Mauer is on the DL. Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan have not regained their past dominance In fact, Nathan is no longer the closer for the team. They sit 7 games back off the pace in the AL Central and in last place in the division. The White Sox do not have a closer and are in a 7 game losing streak. The also have not held the lead in a game in 50 plus innings to date and are in 4th place. The Tigers have not shown consistency in their offense or pitching and are 9-10 and in 3rd place. With those three floundering, it has made the Royals, perennial cellar dwellers for most of the time since the AL Central came into existence and the Indians, thought to be still in rebuilding mode, worthy of being the only teams in competition for the AL Central so far.
The Indians, in game 1 of the series, showed extra inning offense by scoring 4 in the 10th after fighting to tie it up after being behind 3-2. The Indians, in game 2 of the series, fought back after being down 5-0 to cut the score to 5-4. With the bases loaded and two out, the opportunity was there to tie or take the lead, if not for a last out strikeout looking from Carlos Santana. In game 3 of the series, yesterday, the Indians were facing the fact of having a perfect game thrown against them, until Brantley it up with a leadoff single in the 6th. The mental part of the game took over with two balks in one inning by Luke Hochevar. The game was eventually tied and then the lead was lost faster than an Aroldis Chapman 106 miles an hour fastball. The Indians won 7-5. The Indians, in every game since game 2 of the season has either won the game (13) or competed in every game losing by no more than 2 runs. This team is turning into something very special.
Tonight, the Indians will try to win the series against the Royals by winning 3 out of the 4 games before going to Minnesota for the weekend. The outlook is very positive because Josh Tomlin is on the mound against Kansas City's Sean O'Sullivan. The stats for Tomlin show his record to be very inmpressive. (3 wins 0 losses 2.75 ERA 6 runs and 12 hits surrendered in the 3 starts combined. A .140 batting average against for left handers, a .240 batting average against for right handers) vs. Sean O'Sullivan (1 win 1 loss 5.00 ERA 5 runs and 12 hits in 9 total innings pitched. While tough on lefties with a .211 batting average against him, right handers are feasting on him with a .444 batting average) This looks like another W for the Tribe. Hopefully, this will be the case. We shall see.
