The Indians did a mini-sweep of the Royals, winning last night’s game 7-3 behind home runs by Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera and a key double by Travis Hafner. On top of Monday night’s 19-1 spanking, the loss puts the Royals 7 games behind the first place Indians (and 2 behind the second place Tigers).

I’m excited to see how the Indians do against the White Sox tonight and tomorrow. They got the best of us in the first two games of the season, then came the momentum-changing (some would say season-changing) triple play in the fourth inning of the third game. The Tribe won its first game of the season and hasn’t looked back. Masterson started that game, and he’s starting tonight. Here’s hoping he brings in another win. The White Sox just split a two-game series with the Rangers, and took two of three from the Athletics before that, so they have a little momentum going. It should be a good series.

And in the It’s-Nice-To-See-More-Believers category, Ron Washington has invited Tribe manager Manny Acta to serve as one of the American League coaches during the 82nd All-Star Game, which will be played July 12th at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. It’s great to see Acta acknowledged for what he’s done with the team. I was as skeptical as anyone when he was hired with a 158-252 record (.385) in 2.5 years managing the Nationals. Then I went to a meet-and-greet with him and was impressed with his energy and intellect. I liked him in spite of myself. He’s a smart guy, he clearly wanted to manage the Indians, and did his homework in learning everything about the organization. And that that work is evident this season. Congratulations to Mr. Acta.

 

 

 

6 Comments

  • Brandon Mohon says:

    Mark Lajoie, a family friend, is Nap’s great nephew and he calls himself “Lajoy.” Just saying. Not to ruin your blog name or anything.

  • Mike says:

    I read that the Indians have put up “What if” on the scoreboard after some home wins in honor of the commercials promoting 2011 Indians baseball. Does anyone have a picture of this? I think it would be a pretty cool one to post.

  • Susan Petrone says:

    @Mike: The next game I’m going to is next Tuesday. I’ll bring my camera. 🙂 (And just about every Prog Field employee had on the What If? T-shirt when I was at the game last Friday, so they seem to be promoting it heavily. It’s a great commercial.
    @Brandon: Thanks for your comment. Everything we’ve seen was that Lajoie pronounced it “Lajaway,” but it’d be cool to talk to a descendent of the man himself. (hint hint…)

  • Nick Tozzi says:

    Things are going pretty well and I must commend you, Susan, for claiming that the Indians would be good this year in week 1. I can’t think of anyone else in the media or any fan I know who believed that. I certainly did not.

    Maybe Bob Feller has been bending God’s ear so much about our beloved Tribe that the Good Lord is wearing down. “Alright, the Indians will win the World Series, Bob!”. “Gabriel, move his cloud so he can talk baseball with Killebrew!”.

    I’ll try to avoid the lightning bolt.

  • Susan Petrone says:

    @Nick: You crack me up.

  • Rich Bowering says:

    Wait — is Nick saying that Bob Feller might have been
    some sort of a blood sacrifice to the baseball gods?!