Is this actually happening?

OK, the season is only a tenth of the way through. Still, the Indians have played as many games as the Browns play in a full season, and you'd be thrilled like crazy if the Browns finished 12-4 this year.

I don't get much time to watch Tribe games these days, but I did watch the last few innings of last night's game. What I saw was a team that plays smart and provides strong defense.

Michael Brantley made a great catch out in left field that saved a one-out double or better off the bat of Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at 3. On a potential double-play ball to first, Matt LaPorta made a bad throw that Asdrubal Cabrera fielded on a hop and failed to keep his foot on the base before throwing to first, but the runner, Billy Butler, assumed he was out, and Cabrera alertly and quietly called for the ball back in time to tag Butler out. I can't say I've ever seen that before.

And when the Royals' defense gave the Indians a break in the top of the tenth, our boys took full advantage of it. The Indians' first run came unaided by the defense (Shelley Duncan smoked a double to left to knock in Carlos Santana, who had drawn a leadoff walk), but after that, it was thanks to a gift by Escobar on a bad throw that would have ended the inning with a double play that opened the door for more scoring. Adam Everett scored on that play, and then Jack Hannahan and Grady Sizemore followed that up with back-to-back RBI hits. And what would have been a razor-thin one-run lead going into the bottom of the tenth became a nice four-run cushion.

And by the way, how awesome is it to have Grady back? He homered in his first game back on Sunday, and went three-for-five in last night's win. When healthy, he's been one of baseball's best center fielders, and he appears to have immediately returned to that form.

Have I suddenly reached the conclusion that these Indians are contenders? No, don't be silly. They're probably just on a hot streak. There are still 146 games to play.

But I'll tell you what, they've sure been fun to watch so far.