I'm not going to go back and research my track record of posting congratulatory entries when the Indians are on a roll only to see them stumble, seemingly before my positive pixels have even been seen by the next hapless surfer who happens by here. It probably just seems like it happens every time.
So, let there be no crowing about second place and 4.5 games out in the Wild Card race. No predictions, not even any cautious hoping out loud from this superstitious soul. It is enough for me to say that it is interesting to be playing games that matter in August once again, and leave it at that.
Just can't leave it at that, can you?
What I can do , in order to avoid kicking in the "automatic slump starter" (ASS), is relate to you the assessment of my friend from the office...we'll call him "Bob", because that's his name, and then suggest that I think his arguments might possibly have some merit, just not as predictions per se that I would personally be a party to, you understand.
So sayeth Bob....The Wild Card race for the Indians, if we should hang around a while longer, is probably going to be against the Yankees and the Angels and maybe the Twins, because Oakland should win the West. The Angels are farther out in front, but they can be had. The Yankees starting pitching is weak or injured after Mussina, and the Twins starters haven't been much better. The Yankees are excited that they're about to get Jaret Wright back for heaven's sake. The Angels are fading, inexplicably.
The always verbose Bob continues: The team with the best starting pitching will win the Wild Card and the way that Lee, Westbrook, Millwood and Sabathia are going now, our competitors look weak by comparison. 20 of the Indians' remaining 50 games are against Kansas City and Tampa Bay. We absolutely have to go at least 15-5 against those two teams, and play .500 ball at a minimum in the other 30 games in order to finish with 90 wins. That probably won't get it done to win the Wild Card, but it will match even the most optimimistic predictions for them that I saw in April.
So even if Bob's scenario comes true, the Tribe may have to play over their heads to the tune of four or five more wins in order to qualify for October baseball. And it's pretty hard to sit here today and predict that will happen, even for someone who's as cockeyed an optimist as...you know, Bob.
Posted by dan at August 8, 2005 11:45 PM