The Baseball Desert

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Goin' nuts

The Indians' recent horrendous nine-game losing streak got me thinking about another bunch of Cleveland players who just couldn't get things together on the field, and it would seem that I'm not the only person who had that great Randy Newman song going around in his head.

Cleveland finally managed to stop the streak last night with a victory against the Yankees, and once again, Coco Crisp was in the thick of the action. Having dropped a fly ball in the seventh inning which allowed Kenny Lofton to reach base safely (and subsequently tie the game on a double by Bernie Williams), Coco redeemed himself by laying down a perfect bunt with two men out in the eighth inning and a runner on third - the bunt took everyone by surprise and Coco raced up the first-base line, slid headfirst into the base, beating the throw and plating the winning run.

I don't know if the win will be enough to turn the Indians' season around - they're 8 games behind the Twins and 9 1/2 games back in the Wild Card race - but it was nice to see them break their losing streak. I like these guys, I like the way they play, and if I were seriously in the market for a team to root for on a regular basis, they would be high on my list. Still, maybe they don't need my remote support, because now they have a new secret weapon: The Rally Squirrel!