Could the Indians be good?

For all the negativity surrounding their roster changes, the Tribe took two out of three over the South-Siders with a combination of surprisingly solid pitching and timely hits.  In the wake of an 11th-inning defeat in the rubber match, one has to ask; did we underestimate the Cleveland Indians?
NO!

What's wrong with you?!??!

How could you say something like that?!?!

I trusted you.


Now granted, I spent the majority of Wednesday night's game that I attended trying to discern which beerman in section 161 would become my seller of choice for the season, ('Darrell' charmed my sister and I with the old addressing-us-by-our-names-after-reading-it-off-the-ID trick.  Plus, his main competition was a guy who looked like Mickey Rourke pre-rehab and a guy named David, except that he spelled his name with an 'o'.  Alas, Darrell kept wandering off to other sections.  Love is fickle) and debating whether Goose Island Summer Shandy was better enough than MGD to warrant walking to the concession stand, BUT STILL!  I think I can tell the difference between the Indians being the second-coming of the '03 Marlins and Mark Teahen swinging like he has a urinary tract infection.  The Sox hit like crap, and most egregiously, lacked energy during the opening series.  But hey, it's cold.  They'll warm up eventually.  That phrase seems a lot more reasonable when I type it once rather than mutter it repeatedly as I shake in my bleacher seat crazily waving a $20 bill at 'Dovid' to give me crappy domestic beer in a plastic bottle.  2010 White Sox!  Feel the Spirit!

Some fun stats (because stats can be useful AND fund):

The Sox are hitting .154 for the season

Of the 12 runs scored this season by the Pale Hose, 7 of them have come via 4 home runs.  2 have come via fielder's choice, 1 via sacrifice fly, 1 via wild pitch, 1 was walked in and ABSOLUTELY NONE were knocked in with a base hit of any kind.  It also should be noted that both fielder's choices were hit by Mark Kotsay with the bases loaded on each occasion.  Way to be, Mark.  Say, how many teams have you played for in your career?

The Chicago White Sox are #1 in baseball in defensive efficiency.  Dynamite guys!  Way to hide Carlos Quentin!  I imagine the Sox could keep this ranking up all year, provided they were allowed to play with a 16" softball.


With the Sox struggling to figure out the Justin Mastersons of the world, it's probably not a good things that the Twins come to town this week.  Francisco Liriano starts tomorrow, and the rumors out of spring training are that he's back to full strength.  This probably stirs up memories of Liriano facing the Sox in the past, which can be frightening.  But with a spike in the temperature coming, perhaps we can expect slightly more life from the cold-blooded Sox'.  At least until Saturday.  Then Freddy Garcia starts, and we'll really be screwed.


There's a possibility that this will be my last post on blogger.  I was informed tonight that I'm being picked up by the website ChicagoNow.com, and should be transferring my affairs there.  Hopefully in time for me to do a live game thread of the first Freddy Garcia game (Sox games become something else when Freddy starts, something decidedly less professional).  I will of course be re-routing everyone to that site when things are more official.