I am still not sold on Manny Acta as some sort of prodigal genius, but I will tell you one thing, the man keeps his entire bench involved. On a day when Lou Marson and Austin Kearns started and both Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner sat through 37 outs, Michael Brantley chose to truly arrive on the North Coast. His 6th inning tater and his single to lead off the final frame were, doubtlessly, the two biggest hits of the night. Rick Porcello had quelled rallies at every turn, making the home run was essential, without it we wouldn't have seen the 10th, let alone the 13th. Coming into that inning the Indians had mustered just a Matt LaPorta single off of the Detroit 'pen after looking queasy against Al Alburquerque (who?). Brantley picked the perfect time. Had the game been sent to the 14th, Acta likely would have trotted out Chad Durbin (ugh) and we all know that would have ended badly. As it stands, the pitching was tremendous. Kudos to Alex White on his debut and to the bullpen on seven (let's count 'en 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) scoreless innings.
I'm on board, gang. Sometimes a quick start means a bunch of guys playing over their heads (see 1988's 16-6 April), but that simply is not the case with this team. If anything the Indians have a couple of huge pieces still struggling to get their footing (Carmona, Santana) or banged and bruised (Talbot, Carrasco). While Jack Hannhan is hitting better than his history suggests he should, a man hitting in the bottom third isn't going to take you to the top of your division. Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin are combined 9-0 and they will eventually lose. Still, I won't describe who has never failed to delivery a quality start as a flash in the pan, nor a dude who finally seems to have learned how to repeat his delivery as a one month fluke. At ten games over five hundred and with talent coming, the Tribe needs only to hold serve to eclipse my 85 win projection. Let's do it, boys.
For now, I will actively withhold further comparison to the 1995 squad. In my mind that was the greatest team of all-time and won't sully their memory with premature analogies. I will say this, back-to-back walk-off wins with a torrent of young talent and an untouchable memories does make me feel nostalgic.
Here's to another sweep and Masterson to 6-0.
See ya at 1:05p.
Cheers.
