Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

It's been a while since we've chatted, I know, but what a day to return. The Indians completed a 3-game sweep of the Tigers today, virtually assuring that they will advance to the playoffs in October. A meltdown on the scale of the 1964 Philadephia Phillies seems out of the question.

Cleveland used the long ball and some key pitching performances to sweep Detroit this week, but mostly the Tribe outlasted the Tigers. Happily, the Indians saved their best baseball of the season for this last month. Incredibly, 42 of Cleveland's 90 wins were the come-from-behind variety, as Anthony Castrovince reported today on MLB.com

He also mentioned: 1) The Indians won 13 times when trailing after six innings; 2) The team posted 11 victories when trailing after seven innings; 3) Cleveland chalked up seven triumphs when trailing after eight innings and, finally, 4) they won 22 times in their last at bat.

In other words, this club has a lot of staying power. I've joined many fans this season in carping about the club's seeming difficulty in putting all the right pieces together. But, now that it's worked, GM Mark Shapiro and Manager Eric Wedge deserve a lot of credit for weaving so many young players into this victorious effort. The Indians couldn't have done it without the kids.

Ryan Garko has been a solid performer at first; Asdrubal Cabrera became a sparkplug at second when he came up from the minors a month ago and took over for Josh Barfield; Franklin Gutierrez is a fixture in right field after winning the job from Trot Nixon; and young pitchers such as Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis and Aaron Laffey have contributed mightily. Perez, especially, became a mainstay out of the pen, in support of Rafael Betancourt and Joe Borowski.

Wedge did a terrific job with Jhonny Peralta, who has performed much better at shortstop this season and regained his batting stroke, and with Victor Martinez, who overcame his throwing problems to become one of the league's better defensive catchers.

I could go on, but this has been an exciting Tribe team that -- get this -- might just be scratching the surface of its potential.

The club is absolutely loaded with starting pitching -- so much of it, in fact, that had the Tribe not re-signed Jake Westbrook earlier in the year, it might not do it today. Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers, two key starters at the beginning of the season, ended up spending much of the year in the minors. Sowers seemed to rebuild his arm strength and overcome his problems toward the end of the season, but Lee, in my opinion, looks to be the odd man out. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get traded in the off season -- if his value hasn't been too seriously compromised.

The greatest surprise this season has been the emergence of Fausto Carmona, who's been one of the best pitchers in the league, practically from the first day he started in place of the then-injured Westbrook.

Now come some questions that actually pose a pleasant dilemma. For instance, does the club pick up Paul Byrd's option for another season? He's pitched very well this season and deserves another season, but would the money be better spent elsewhere? I have mixed feelings on this.

See what happens when you're loaded with talent?

The Tribe in the playoffs will be an unknown quantity. The team could remain red-hot, or, being so young, it might feel the pressure and fold its tents. It's anybody's guess. But what's been glorious to watch is the way this team came together and played so well down the stretch. I'll admit, when the bats went silent for nearly a month after the all-star break, I was panicking. But Asdrubal Cabrea provided the offense with just the lift it needed.

It's also been heart warming to see Kenny Lofton, at age 40, playing so well. He looks and acts 10 years younger, and it makes you wonder if Shapiro should check with Rocky Colavito to see if he, at age 74, can still swing the bat. Just kidding.

Now that the Indians have finished tearing up the Tigers, it's time to take a breather. We Tribe fans should sit back and smell the flowers. If I don't mind saying so, we deserve the rest -- for a day, at least.

-- Kevin Cuneo

Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

And how about those A.L. Central Division Championship Cleveland Indians! I swear I could taste the champagne and beer that was being tossed around the Tribe's victorious clubhouse Sunday afternoon.

The Indians own the divisional title in large part of their superb play down the stretch -- 27 wins in their last 36 games. Tribe General Manager Mark Shapiro caught some flak when the only move he made to bolster the club in late July was to acquire Kenny Lofton. It turned out, thanks to the contributions of Asdrubal Cabrera and a couple of young Cleveland hurlers down the stretch, the Indians had more than enough with Lofton. The 40-year-old outfielder, incidentally, proved to be a key performer for the Tribe, and Shapiro deserves a lot of credit for trading for him.

In fact, Shapiro, now in its 15th season with the Indians (7th as GM), did a great job this season. If anything, he might have doled out a bit too much money to sign outfielders David Dellucci and Trot Nixon, as neither player contributed much on the field in the second half. They did provide strong leadership in the clubhouse, though, and the good chemistry on this squad shouldn't be underestimated.

A division crown puts everyone in a good frame of mind, and I've even jumped on Tribe owner Larry Dolan's bandwagon. Dolan, who overpaid for the ballclub and later discovered that the various revenue sources had been maxed out, went back to basics and rebuilt the farm system -- under Shapiro's watchful eye, of course. The Indians have now reached the point where they could contend for the forseeable future.

The Dolans did their job by starting a profitable cable company -- Sports Time Ohio -- which generates enough revenue to help the club re-sign its top players. Now they plan to sell the name of the stadium, and though the park will always be Jacobs Field to me, I won't complain if they call it Quicken Loans Field, as long as the payoff goes toward re-signing C.C. Sabathia.
I know, I know. I shouldn't get too carried away.

What I like about Shapiro is that he's assembled a top-notch team, one that's so talented that his various assistants are of interest to other ballclubs. The Pittsburgh Pirates, for instance, seem poised to hire Shapiro lieutenant Neal Huntington as their new general manager.

Shapiro also offered few excuses for the mistakes he made. Letting Brandon Phillips get away remains a colossal blunder, but at least the Indians learned from it and refused to trade Ben Francisco for a broken-down reliever six weeks ago. And even though the Coco Crisp trade for Andy Marte and Kelly Shoppach turned out to be a bad one for the Indians, I liked the upside potential. Had Marte turned out to be the type of player the Tribe thought he was, we might be ready to nomimate Shapiro for a spot in Cooperstown.

A year ago, practically every move Shapiro made turned out to be a bad one, but it didn't make him timid. He just kept at it. Paul Byrd had a lousy year in his first season with the Tribe, but now he's a 15-game winner. The big question at this point is: Do the Indians make him the third starter in the playoffs, or go with Jake Westbrook? I have kind of mixed feeling on that one.

We attended Saturday's game in Cleveland and were pleased to see Cliff Lee throw two strong innings. By contrast, Tom Mastny got hammered, and I'm not sure he'll even make the post-season roster. If Jeremy Sowers has a strong outing against Seattle, I think I might keep him and Lee for the playoffs.

Those are the happy questions being debated today at Jacobs Field. Even the fans got into it by the end of the season, as the Tribe drew just a shade under 2.3 million for the season. Based on this year's strong performance, I would imagine they'll be back up close to 3 million in 2008.

Ah, it's good to be a winner again!

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Tribe trivia: Name the pitcher who doesn't belong among this group of Indians starting pitchers from the 1990s -- Dennis Martinez, Charley Nagy, Orel Hershiser, Steve Hargan, Jack McDowell.

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-- Kevin Cuneo

Hello Tribe Fans Everywhere!

Had it not been for the emergence of three youngsters who started the baseball season in Akron, it's doubtful the Indians would be plotting strategy today for next week's playoff games. But back in April, infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and pitchers Aaron Laffey and Jensen Lewis were playing against the Erie SeaWolves.

Who ever thought they'd soar from the Aeros to the Indians? And, not only that, but become key performers down the stretch. From the time Cabrera took over for Josh Barfield at second base, the Tribe played scintillating baseball. A natural shortstop, Cabrera proved to be a whiz at second, reminding everyone that the great Roberto Alomar also started his career as a shortstop.

Almost as important were the contributions in August and September of Laffey and Lewis. The pitchers were roommates at Akron, and Lewis was telling the Akron Beacon Journal's Sheldon Ocker they used to dream about making it all the way up Cleveland. They did better than that -- they became key guys on the Indians.

Laffey proved so adept as a fifth starter that the Indians kept Cliff Lee and Jeremy Sowers toiling at Buffalo. And Lewis, who endured a few rocky moments after his promotion to Cleveland, has been a rock over the last three weeks. The 24-year-old righthander from Vanderbilt has struck out 30 batters in 25-plus innings. He's 1-1 with a 2.49 earned run average in 23 games.

In a key game against the Tigers last week, Lewis relieved Jake Westbrook and blew away Detroit's hitters for three innings. The performance likely earned the kid a spot on the post-season roster.

Longtime Tribe fans are remembering it was the emergence of another young pitcher, Jaret Wright, who was chiefly responsible for Cleveland's drive to the World Series.

Yes, the future looks promising with so many talented young kids on the roster, but, for now, let's think about the present -- the next four weeks of baseball. If Laffey, Lewis and Cabrera could dream in April about making all the way to the big leagues, why not dream really big and finish it off with a World Championship ring.

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Steve Hargan. He pitched in the 1960's for Cleveland, not in the '90s.

Today's quiz: True or false -- Trot Nixon played against the Indians in the playoffs.

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-- Kevin Cuneo

Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

One of the few bright spots for Cleveland in Saturday's 9-3 loss to Oakland was a sparkling, 2-inning scoreless performance by Cliff Lee. Finally, I thought, he's sewed up his spot on the post-season roster. But, apparently that's not the case. The Indians are still thinking of going with 15 position players, which means Lee could be out.

I don't know what atrocity he committed in the clubhouse or what, but Lee is paying for it in spades. He did have a nasty exchange -- actually two incidents -- with Victor Martinez in a game shortly before he was sent to the minors, but you'd think the Indians would be satisfied by now that they'd put the southpaw in his place. But I guess not.

Now it's a concern because the Indians could use Lee during the post-season games. I have much more faith in him, for instance, than I do in Tom Mastny. In fact, I'm getting a bit concerned about Joe Borowski, who blew his seventh save last night by coughing up a 2-run homer to Adrian Beltre in the 9th inning. But Borowski's got the post-season roster made. It's Lee I'm concerned about.

If I read this right, the Indians must be thinking of keeping a player such as David Dellucci for the post season. Yes, Dellucci's a vet with post-season experience, but the guy hasn't played in 3 months. They can't be seriously thinking of putting him on the roster.

The way the club is handling Lee is confounding. He's not a flash in the pan, after all. The guy has averaged more than 16 wins per season over the last three years. I assume the Tribe will try to trade him during the off season, but I hope they just don't give him away. This is my main gripe against Eric Wedge, who I think did a fine job managing the Indians this season. Once a player lands in his doghouse -- Milton Bradley, Brandon Phillips -- that's it. They're dead to him. Can't say that I blame him in the case of Bradley, but Phillips and Lee are quality players and solid citizens.

I've written before about how fond Erie fans have grown of Lee, who's visited here twice before during the annual Caravan visits.

Let's hope Wedge and Mark Shapiro aren't bone-headed about placing him on the post-season roster. My gosh, even Jeremy Sowers is getting a start tonight against the Mariners.

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The answer to yesterday's quiz is: Yes, Trot Nixon has played against the Indians in past post-season games. When he played for the Red Sox, Nixon was one of the club's top players in October.

Today's quiz: Name the Indians pitcher who signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of Georgia before changing his mind and signing a pro contract with the Colorado Rockies organization.

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-- Kevin Cuneo

Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

Cleveland's brief honeymoon following Sunday's clinching of the A.L. Central Division championship has ended in Seattle. GM Mark Shapiro and Manager Eric Wedge had been tinkering with the post-season roster, but it was pretty minor stuff. The final players to make the team would in all likelihood not have a big say in the outcome of the October games.

Joe Borowski's ninth-inning meltdowns these past two nights, however, have thrown a big wrench in the Tribe's smooth-running engine. Borowski has been an enigma this season. Yes, he leads the league with 43 saves, but he's also blown eight saves and his earned run average is a healthy 5.23.

Until now, the Indians could laugh and say, "Oh, that's just Joe. Sure, he's blown some games, but you've got to look at the bottom line -- those 43 saves."

I'm not laughing, because I can see Borowski melting down against the Yankees. It's happened before. In sports, coaches and managers love the cliche, "You dance with the one that brought you," and while I admire the loyalty in that sentiment, it makes me uneasy -- especially at this point in the season.

In 1997, Cleveland blew the seventh game of the World Series against Florida because Mike Hargrove turned to closer Jose Mesa, instead of staying with Eric Plunk, who'd struck out the side during the previous inning. Mesa had a deer-in-the-headlights look throughout the series, and I was surprised Hargrove failed to recognize this and take action to rectify the situation.

Hargrove's not the only manager who's blown big World Series games by insisting on staying with a valued closer who, for whatever reason, has hit the skids. It happened with Joe Torre and Mariano Rivera against Arizona six years ago -- and Rivera might be the game's all-time greatest closer.

The thing is, you don't manage in the post season the way you do during the regular season. Managers must be quick to pull the plug, as you only have so many chances in these all-too-brief series. Wedge absolutely should not insert Borowski into the game in anything but a save situation. A couple times in recent days, he's used the closer when the score was tied. With Borowski, that's inviting disaster.

Have I lost faith in Borowski? Not completely, but the game-tying home runs he coughed up to Seattle on successive nights has shaken me. If I was the manager, I'd go with the hot hand -- Rafael Betancourt, Rafael Perez, even Jensen Lewis -- in the playoffs.

When the games start next week, the Indians must play for keeps.

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Jake Westbrook. He was headed to the Univ. of Georgia before he signed a professional baseball contract.

Today's quiz: Name the former Tribesman who is the father of the current Rex Sox manager.

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-- Kevin Cuneo