Cleveland pushing for playoffs
CLEVELAND — By the time Indians manager Terry Francona hops on that motorized scooter he rides from his downtown apartment to Progressive Field on game days, his mind is racing and his stomach’s churning.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
“There’s nothing better than coming to the ballpark and being nervous and excited,” he said. “That’s the best feeling. I love that feeling.”
With a September surge, the Indians have Francona feeling great.
Two months ago, they were in a baffling funk. Cleveland’s offence couldn’t match the club’s solid starting pitching, and a season of high expectations — the Indians were Sports Illustrated’s pick to win the World Series — appeared doomed.
But following a few trades, and energized by the arrival of all-starin-the-making Francisco Lindor and a few other youngsters, the Indians have battled back to .500 and are in the thick of the wildcard race.
An 8-3 win on Monday night over AL Central-leading Kansas City in the opener of a four-game series was Cleveland’s 13th victory in 18 games and moved the Indians back to .500 (71-71) and within 41/2 games of the second wild card.
Although they’ve got to slug it out with several other teams to make the post-season, Francona, who deserves much of the credit for the turnaround, is proud of how his team has responded.
“We were frustrated for four months, there’s no getting around it,” he said. “What we did, which was good, was we took that and we made it better. Again, I wish we had been 20 games over .500, which we weren’t. Rather than pack up the bags and say, ‘Well,’ I like what we’ve done.”
When it began to look as if the playoffs weren’t possible, Indians general manager Chris Antonetti began planning for the future by trading veterans Brandon Moss, David Murphy and Marc Rzepczynski before the July 31 for prospects. Then, Antonetti dealt Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn — a pair of disappointing free-agent signings — to Atlanta on Aug. 7.
The departures of Swisher and Bourn, along with their massive contracts, seemed to unburden the Indians, who have received major contributions from Lindor and fellow rookie third baseman Giovanny Urshela as well as Abraham Almonte and Chris Johnson, who both came over in trades. Also, third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall has blossomed after switching to right field, a move that may have saved his career.
The Indians have experience at late-season comebacks.
In 2013, they won their last 10 games to clinch a wild-card spot. This climb appears more treacherous as they have six games left with the playoff-bound Royals and seven against Minnesota, another one of the clustered teams fighting for a wild-card entry.
Like his teammates, the gifted 21-year-old Lindor, — who has hit .309 with eight homers and 37 RBI while leading the team in smiles since being promoted in June — believes the Indians can finish what they’ve started.
“We’re not going to stop playing until we’re done,” said Lindor, a rookie-of-the-year candidate. “These games are fun. We’re not thinking about next season or anything else. All that matters is what we’re doing now. We’re not only playing for the name on the back of our jersey. We’re playing for the name on the front. We want to win.”