| What's Going On Here? What a Great Start! |
| Cleveland Sitting Atop Central Division In Early Going |
| By Larry Laird |
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Nobody
saw this coming. Manny Acta and his 2011 Cleveland Indians leading
the Central Division? Well, yeah, it is still pretty early, the Tribe is
only 41 games into the season. But, they're 26-15 and leading the
division by five games over the Detroit Tigers.
Already, the Indians have swept the Boston Red Sox early and generally have
handled just about everything thrown at them.
Solid Pitching and Good Hitting
Yes, those two things will win you a lot of ball games. I'll be
the first to admit, a lot of the names on Cleveland's roster are
practically unknown to me. The 2010 season was so woeful I barely
paid any attention to who was up and coming. The 2011 team now has
my interest and I look forward to catching a lot of games this summer.
If summer ever gets here in Ohio.
Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of watching Tribe reliever Chris
Perez blow a a couple of weeks ago in Kansas City. The Indians were
leading 2-1 and Perez was called in for the bottom of the 9th. He
only managed one out before loading the bases with walks and chippy hits
before Melky Cabrera singled in 2 to complete Perez's meltdown.
Let's hope this doesn't become a pattern as it has in the past few years
with Indian's relievers.
Can This Last?
Let's hope so. We'll see in anther few weeks. If
Cleveland is still holding their own by the middle of June then I'd say
we've got a ball club. Let's hope there aren't more injuries.
Sizemore and Hafner were both finally back together until Sizemore went
back on the DL recently. Let's pray it's a short stay! Maybe soon
I'll have learned enough about the 2011 club to write about
them! |
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