By Yours Truly
http://throneberryfields.com/2017/09/13/for-the-indians-its-blackjack/Twenty-one means blackjack. Or, the name of the show proving the wick that lit the powder keg of the
legendarily notorious quiz show scandal of 1959. In Cleveland, it means American League history. And,
for the time being, anyway, invincibility.
Look out, 1935 Chicago Cubs? Step aside, 1916 New York Giants? The Indians aren’t that crazy no matter
how invincible they feel after finishing off the teetering Tigers 5-3 Wednesday afternoon. But you wouldn’t
blame them for thinking about it, either.
They didn’t exactly make it easy, though. The Tigers actually opened with a 1-0 lead on a first inning RBI
double by Jeimer Candelario. But with two on in the bottom of the first Jay Bruce, acquired from the Mets
in August, yanked one into the left field bleachers. Then Edwin Encarnacion made it 4-1 when he dumped
a quail into right field that was enough for Jose Ramirez (two-out double) to score in the bottom of the
third.
But the Tigers got two in the sixth, both unearned. First, Indians third baseman Yandy Diaz threw wild on
Miguel Cabrera’s leadoff grounder to hand Cabrera first on the house, before Nicholas Castellanos drove
one to the back of center field for the RBI double. Two outs later, Castellanos came home on Andrew
Romine’s single.
But Roberto Perez sent one over the center field fence for the Indians’ badly needed insurance run, and
four Indians relievers none of whom was named Andrew Miller finished what Mike Clevinger started, a
day after Corey Kluber shut the Tigers out on five hits to tie the 2000 A’s’ twenty-game winning streak.
Even then, it took Lonnie Chisenhall making an onrushing, sliding catch on Ian Kinsler’s sinking line drive
to left to help Cody Allen nail down his 27th save. The group hug around the mound was almost a hug of
relief.
Well, goodbye, 2000 A’s. Hello, blackjack.
How did they do it so far? Lots of ways. You can start with Ramirez. Not only did he slide readily from third
to second when Jason Kipnis hit the disabled list, he’s been hitting .388 since the streak began with an
Indians triumph over Red Sox ace Chris Sale.
You can continue with Francisco Lindor hitting .370 with nine bombs and nineteen steaks during the streak,
not to mention that neither he nor Ramirez have committed one fielding error throughout.
Join up, Clevenger—you’ve won four straight starts during the streak. Fall in, Kluber, that Tuesday shutout
was your fourth straight win of the streak and, while you’re at it, your ERA in the streak is a staggering 1.41
and you have a 34-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio for it.
Stand up, Carlos Carrasco, you who missed last October’s fun disabled—you’re a 0.62 ERA and 3-0 in the
streak. And the third one was a beauty: six scoreless en route an 11-0 shutout Monday night that featured
Lindor driving home four and Ramirez driving home three.
Remember Ryan Merritt, whose emergency start in last year’s ALCS against the Blue Jays was clutch to the
tenth power but whose disappearance from manager Terry Francona’s radar may have helped the Indians
lose a World Series they damn near won? Merritt has two starts during the streak and worked twelve innings
with only one run surrendered. He’d better be in the long-term postseason plan this year.
Take a bow, Bradley Zimmer, even though it may hurt with you now gone for the season with a broken hand.
That Spider-Man catch to take a bomb away from Kansas City’s Lorenzo Cain in win three of the streak just
might have been the play of the year by the Indians’ defense.
Be counted big, Indians bullpen. You’re already the American League’s best pen this year, but during this
streak you’ve been as lights out as it gets. And you won’t even have Miller Time back until Thursday, and
he’s going to be brought along slowly, maybe for an out or two at a time, for a game or three, maybe four,
with a day or two off in between, before turning him loose for the rest of the stretch and the postseason.
“I went from being in one of the least fun situations in baseball to the most fun,” Bruce said earlier in the
winning streak, reflecting on his last months with the injury-depleted, immolating Mets, who broke out of
spring training with the world expecting to see them in the postseason before one after another mishap
put paid to their year early enough and often enough.
This streak is almost more impressive than winning a World Series. And there have been those putting up
big winning streaks just to fall short of or at the big dance. The 1935 Cubs lost the World Series in six; the
1916 Giants finished in fourth place—and their streak covered all but the last five games of that season.
(The Giants’ record is of some dispute because one of their games ended in a curfew-imposed tie, and ties
were thrown out in that time and place, which may be why MLB considers the ’35 Cubs the modern MLB
record holder.)
But it’s been one hell of a lot of fun to watch, for Indians fans and the country. It’ll be a hell of a lot of fun
to keep watching if the Indians really have forgotten how to lose for now.
Next up for the Indians, the .500 Royals, who rolled the dice on one more run to the postseason but may
yet end up saying goodbye to this postseason and to the boys who brought them back to greatness for a
charming enough spell. The odds of keeping the streak alive long enough to meet the ’35 Cubs, at minimum,
just rose by a decent margin.
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