I just realized that my day began and ended with a Cabrera.

In the morning, I attended the Wahoo Club luncheon with Asdrubal Cabrera at Massimo Da Milano on West 25th St.  Cabrera brought his little boy (who was the spitting image of his father) and I got a chance to get an autograph and a picture.  

Posing with Asdrubal Cabrera at the Wahoo Club luncheon

In the evening, my husband, father and I went to see the Indians take on the Detroit Tigers in game two of their three-game series.  After Santana’s walk-off grand slam the night before, I figured it would be difficult to top that ending.  I must say, Saturday night’s game definitely came close.  I was anxious to see the Major League debut of Alex White, who was solid through six innings against a tough Detroit lineup.  Miguel Cabrera makes me nervous every time he comes to the plate, and he made the Indians pay several times during the game.  The bullpen was amazing as well; I was particularly impressed by Tony Sipp’s performance in the top of the 13th inning.  After giving up a leadoff double to Miguel Cabrera, Sipp got Brennan Boesch to foul out, and Ryan Raburn and Jhonny Peralta to fly out.  

In the bottom of the inning, Michael Brantley led off with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error.  Once Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana were intentionally walked to load the bases, we started to feel a little of that 2011 Indians magic.  My husband and I were convinced it would be in the form of a walk off walk (we even started to chant “walk off walk” over and over).  I was glad to see Orlando Cabrera end the game with a walk off single for several different reasons, beyond the obvious notch in the win column.  My husband is a notorious complainer when it comes to my Indians obsession.  He typically complains when I drag him to games with me, and he often falls asleep by the third inning.  An extra inning game when he had to work early on Sunday morning was a recipe for disaster.  I will give him credit though; he stayed awake for most of the game and only started to complain endlessly around the 11th inning.  If this game would’ve lasted much longer, I’m pretty sure he would’ve gone berserk.  The other reason that I wanted the Indians to end it quickly is that I really did not want to see Miguel Cabrera come to the plate again, especially when I knew Chad Durbin was lurking in the bullpen.  I had this vision of Cabrera hitting a ball off of Durbin that would land in Lake Erie (about 10 blocks from Progressive Field).  At one point in extra innings, Durbin’s name flashed on the scoreboard as “warming in the bullpen.”  I threw such a fit when I saw this, the guy sitting in front of me actually turned around and laughed at me.  I believe my exact words were somewhere along the lines of “Oh come on, you could still win this game…don’t give up now!”  That is the level of faith I have in Durbin at this point.

A few other thoughts and interesting points:

– The Indians honored long-time fan John Adams prior to the game.  Adams and his bass drum attended their 3,000th game earlier this week, a string that started in 1973. 

– I attend a number of Wahoo Club events and always have a great time.  (They have another event coming up on May 21; a luncheon with Mike Hargrove).  It was nice to see other fans excited and talking about the Indians at the Asdrubal Cabrera luncheon this afternoon.  The last few events I attended, a lot of fans seemed to shuffle around dejectedly, or complained bitterly about the Tribe.  After the disappointment Indians fans endured over the past several years, it feels good to have something to cheer about again.

– I’ve yet to miss an Indians game in 2011 – I’ve witnessed every game through a combination of radio, television, and attendance at Progressive Field.  I’m not sure that I can keep it up for 162 games, but I’ll certainly give it a shot!

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