What is this, a love-in? Don’t the Cleveland Indians understand that the White Sox are here for the sole purpose of breaking and entering? For taking what has been the Indians’ for the past five seasons?
As much as the Sox want one, it won’t be a rivalry until the Indians say it is. And the Indians aren’t saying that. They’re saying nice things. You half expect them to propose Cleveland and Chicago become sister cities. (We send them a deep-dish pizza; the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame sends us, what, one of Keith Richards’ blood transfusions?)
“By no means am I rooting for the White Sox, but it’s nice to see them playing well,” Indians first baseman Jim Thome said. “It’s nice to see them starting to get things together. I’m not rooting for them, because they’re playing against us.
“But it’s nice. They have a good bunch of guys over there. They’re all becoming established.”
Those don’t sound like fighting words.
“I am glad for them,” third baseman Travis Fryman said. “They’ve earned that. It has to be a good feeling.”
Of course, as long as the Sox throw away 8-3 leads, as they did in an 8-7 victory Monday night, the Indians will be mighty friendly.
Until this year, Cleveland had been in first place in the American League Central since the Pleistocene epoch, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And then the Sox, all vim and vigor and James Baldwin, came out of spring training with the vague notion of breaking up the Indians’ string of five straight Central titles. And so far, so good, having owned or shared first place for 55 days.
But as surprising as that has been, the race still has to go through Cleveland, again and again. The Sox know it. The Indians know it.
“They’re a good ballclub,” Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar said. “But you have to understand: We’ve been through a lot of injuries, and we’re still playing good. It just goes to show you how good a team we have.”
Ah, now that’s more like it. A little bristle. A little strut. A little talk-to-me-in-September attitude. Even their fans have that attitude. Another sellout crowd at Jacobs Field on Monday didn’t cheer until the late innings, when it mattered.
If the Indians lose a game in June, does it make a noise? No, it doesn’t.
And yet . . . and yet the Sox keep rumbling along, looking for some acknowledgement that they deserve to have the best record in baseball. There were some beautiful moments Monday, as well as some eyesores.
In the third inning, Frank Thomas hit a ball so hard into the bleachers that the Indians’ Richie Sexson never moved, raising the question: Is that a potted plant or a left fielder?
Closer Keith Foulke, an All-Star candidate, did his best Rod Beck imitation, giving up a homer to Thome in the ninth, then loading the bases before finally forcing Alomar into a game-ending double play. No problem.
Game 1 of the series that either does or doesn’t mean anything went to the visitors.
The Sox are three games up in the Central. Anybody here feel threatened yet?
The Sox have been on an escalating emotional high for two months and you wonder if and when they’ll fall to earth mentally. The Indians believe that getting caught up in the emotion of Game 60 is akin to getting caught up in the trailers at the movie theater.
Until the real games start, the Indians seem genuinely happy for the Sox, like a father looking on with approval as junior goes on his first date.
“We didn’t think Chicago was one of the teams that had made tremendous strides over the course of the last year,” Fryman said. “They obviously had improved. Kansas City had improved. Detroit had improved. Chicago was not the club I thought would come out and play as well as they have. I’d say it’s the beginning of a nice rivalry.”
Even the Sox seem cordial, not wanting the lion to get mad at what used to be dinner.
“Everyone in this division looks at Cleveland as the team to beat,” first baseman Paul Konerko said. “They probably look at us as just like the other teams in the division. . . . I wouldn’t see us as a threat if I had won it five years in a row.”
The Indians do indeed take the Sox seriously, but not enough to get mad at them. Not yet anyway. In the meantime, they’ll serve as Sox advocates, singing their praises as long as the Sox don’t get carried away too much.
Can’t we all not get along?
