The Indians could end the season looking up at the .500 mark and nobody would be surprised. But if the turnaround of this team goes on from here as planned, players and fans alike might one day remember that the weekend they finally crawled over the mediocrity mark was the weekend that Grady Sizemore debuted in a big league uniform, and think it not a coincidence.
No, it's not like he carried the team to four straight wins over the Royals. In fact, he looked decidedly like a 21 year-old rookie in his first couple of games, getting picked off of second following his first major league hit, and overthrowing a cutoff man on one of his first tests in center field. Still The Kid, as he will doubtless be tagged, looks like the real thing. He was overmatched more than once by big-league pitching this weekend, but he looked like he had ice water in his veins when he won the game with a walk-off base hit yesterday.
Sizemore hit safely in all four games with KC, getting his first home run this afternoon. He looks very solid in the outfield (one error in 93 games at AAA Buffalo) and all the things we've heard about his full-go-all-the-time playing style are evident immediately. He has already come close to beating out several routine infield grounders because he is so fast, and he runs so hard. In the process of getting thrown out easily at home trying to score the tying run on Saturday, he dropped a shoulder into the catcher in a move worthy of Bo Jackson running off tackle.
He then continued to belie his tender years by having the cool to minimize the whole thing in locker room interviews, saying graciously of Royals catcher John Buck "He didn't budge,...I'm sure he didn't feel a thing." The kid has "special" written all over him.
Posted by dan at July 26, 2004 12:36 AM