Staying with it
The Indians took two of three from Cincinnati this weekend, ending the interleague schedule with the best record in major league baseball -- 15-3.
No one hates interleague play more than I, but without it, the Indians would likely be buried right about now.
Still, I hate it when the Reds and Indians play, because I am passionate about both clubs. In the old days, I always sided with the Indians because I was from Cleveland and lived and died with the team.
But the Indians traded Roberto Alomar, Bartolo Colon and Chuck Finley and let Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton and Sandy Alomar go.
Then Larry Dolan uttered the phrase "don't fall in love with your assets."
Then Mark Shapiro kept saying "2005" as an answer when Indians fans asked what they were doing.
Then Eric Wedge grew a mustasche.
Then 2005 came, and the team didn't win at first. I'd like to be patient, but remember, it was the team that told us about this season and set the expectations, not the fans.
The past four years have made me cynical about the Indians. I can't deny that. The Reds, meanwhile, are incompetent, but have lots of players (Sean Casey, Ken Griffey, Adam Dunn, Jason LaRue) that are among my favorites in baseball.
No, I don't root for the Reds against the Indians, but I do get defensive when Tom Hamilton goes on and on about how the Reds have no pitching and should be batting three consecutive left handed batters. Of course, a week later, when Wedge did it, their was no such criticism.
I wonder what happened to Hamilton, who seems to love being negative about other cities, players and teams.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati is struggling, and I can't help but feel bad as the team continues to lose.