In the afterglow of the Indians' second straight walk-off win and 12th straight win at Progressive Field, I find myself starting to wonder if this team is really this good. And you know what? I think that maybe, just maybe, they really are.
How can this be? A team that started the season expected to finish fourth in a fairly weak American League Central Division has set a team record for wins in the month of April, with 18 against just eight losses. Many of us thought when they lost three straight last week that they had started their downward slide into mediocrity, but they've followed that up with five straight wins.
How have they done it? In a word: Defense. These Indians played a phenomenal defensive game tonight. Jack Hannahan, Austin Kearns, Michael Brantley and Orlando Cabrera are among the Indians who made particularly fine plays tonight. Lou Marson threw out a runner at second base. Carlos Santana started a fine double play from first base. Even Shin-Soo Choo almost threw somebody out at second, from right field. (I know, horseshoes and hand grenades, but still.) I think this is the best defensive team I can remember the Indians ever having.
And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fine performance turned in by Alex White, who went six innings in his major league debut, giving up just the two runs, both on solo homers. And let's not forget the Tribe bullpen, which shut the Tigers out for seven innings to give the offense a chance to win it.
For the second straight series, the Indians have turned back the team that started the series in second place in the division. The Royals have bounced back with two straight wins against the Twins, and have returned to second place, 4 1/2 games behind our Tribe. That's a pretty good-sized lead heading into May, though of course there's still a long way to go. But if we keep seeing this kind of defense, anything can happen.
I'm starting to love these 2011 Cleveland Indians. I don't know yet if they really are this good. But they're sure fun to watch right now.
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3 comments:
Steve,
Fair enough -- the Tribe went 18-8 in April, which registers as the best record in the Major Leagues this season (tied with the NL's Phillies).
But be very, very cautious, Steve -- I'm looking out for your emotional well being when I say this -- don't get your hopes up very high because the Tribe has seduced us before, and they'll do it again... probably this year.
Remember in our childhood and teenage years, when the Tribe started this way (and finished this way)?
1989: started 4-1 (finished 73-89)
1988: started 36-21 (finished 78-84)
1986: 17-8 (finished 84-78)
1984: 10-6 (finished 75-87)
1983: 16-13 (finished 70-92)
1982: 26-23 (finished 78-84)
1981: 19-10 (finished 52-51)
Plus, this season there is a little problem to go along with having the best record out of 30 teams -- they have the WORST attendance out of 30 teams!
Steve, there's supposed to be a correlation between how well the team is performing, and
their fan support.
This couldn't possibly be a more anti-correlation than this situation: best record, worst
attendance.
And it's not even close, Steve -- they're averaging 14,283 fans, and the next worst-team (the Kansas City Royals) are averaging 16,915... a difference of nearly 2,700 per game.
Making matters worse, the Tribe is only filling its stadium to 32.9% capacity, which is -- you guessed it -- by far the worst out of 30 teams.
(the next-worst team is filling its stadium to 40% capacity (the Seattle Mariners)
By any measure, Steve, the Indians fan support is foundering and it's having a big effect on the team's bottom-line. The Dolans already have precious few resources to invest in the team, and this is only going to make things worse... increasing the likelihood they'll be selling off players at the trade deadline just to pay the light bill.
So before you or anyone else gets too excited about the Tribe's fast start, remember that no matter how well they're doing in April, May or June, their chances will be doomed come the trade deadline because they'll be siphoning off salary money to remain afloat
financially.
And don't forget that Cleveland has lost more than 55% of its population since its peak, and Cuyahoga County lost nearly 9% of its residents from 2000-2010, making any leaps in attendance all the more unlikely.
People are moving away from the Cleveland area in droves, Steve, and that doesn't bode well for the future of the Indians and trying to increase the worst attendance in the major leagues.
By the way for anyone who is interested the attendance statistics are here:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance
And the population figures are here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland#cite_note-142
(scroll down and the chart is on the right)
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