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Cleveland is back after a long absence from post season play. They have ousted the Yankees and perhaps ended the Yankee career of Joe Torre. Give the proclivities of George Steinbenner the Yankee's of 2008 may look far different from the Yankees of 2007. But enough of the Yankees. It is the Cleveland Indians that are celebrating at long last.

And the way to the celebration was a classy ride. It started with the ceremonial opening pitch. There on the field before the 1st game of the series was John Adams - the drummer who attends every game in the left field bleachers. On the field with him was his bass drum that was immortalized in the movie Major League and which may eventually go into the Hall of Fame as one of those peculiar icons of the game. It ended with Eric Wedge ignoring the calls of the pundants by starting Paul Byrd in the 4th game and ending it with Borowski in the ninth. Wedge felt that it was bad baseball to pitch his ace of the staff on three days rest and that both Byrd and Borowski had gotten him to that game. He further allowed Kelly Shoppach to catch Borowski since he had been his personal catcher throughout the season benching the hotter hitting Garko. All of his moves were rewarded with success.

Generally the crowd in the home park is referred to as the 10th man for the home team. The Tribe players were not accustomed to having that kind of support since during the majority of the season it would take fireworks or dollar dogs to get a crowd of over 30,000 to attend. But by the 8th inning of the 2nd game the team not only had the support of the packed house of rabid fans, but an upwelling of support from lake Erie itself. Just at the right time in the crucial part of the game the Tribe was aided in scoring the tying run by the hoards of insects that descended upon the park. The Indians were able to ignore the bugs while they drove the Yankees to distraction and to surrendering the pivotal run.

The Indians players with few exceptions had the series of their lives to turn around 6 consecutive regular season losses into a series win. The offense delivered - especially in the clutch with men in scoring position and two outs. The defense made the plays and the pitching was outstanding as to both the starters and relievers.

If the Indians can finally break their jinx and win their first World Series since 1948, the best prize for a player may not be the designation of being MVP but who gets the pie in the face from Trot Nixon.

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