The signs of past Indians greatness were everywhere Saturday night at Progressive Field. The past, however, offered no help to the current Indians.
UPDATED: 11:18 p.m.
View full sizeMinutes after giving the Twins a 1-0 lead with a second-inning home run, Minnesota right fielder Jason Kubel robs Luis Valbuena of extra bases with this catch to end the Indians' second inning Saturday night at Progressive Field.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It was the kind of night the Indians used to own. Early August, a division title to be won, big crowd on hand.
It felt and tasted like victory, but like the Negro League uniforms the Indians wore Saturday night, it was just a flashback. Saturday night, Sandy Alomar Jr. was coaching first base, Kenny Lofton was being inducted into the Indians Hall of Fame, Charlie Nagy was sitting next to him and Jim Thome was playing for the Twins.
The old days are gone, bits and pieces locked in the memory banks. Reality was the Twins getting an early lead, the Indians tying the score only to see Minnesota pull away convincingly in the late innings for a 7-2 victory at Progressive Field.
This Indians team is playing its best baseball of the year. They're 13-10 since the All-Star break against quality teams, yet the truth is that they're one game worse than this time last year under former manager Eric Wedge. That team lost 97 games and finished tied for last in the AL Central.
It is not good to live in the past, but 10 or 12 years ago the Indians would have found a way to win this game. Somehow, someway they would have pulled it out late. The horns would still be honking two hours after the victory, tail lights flashing in the night as the line of cars circled the ballpark in celebration.
Now there is silence, people shuffling off into the night as quickly as possible. Silence and this message written on the blackboard in manager Manny Acta's office: "The road to success is not a freeway, it's a toll road and it's always under construction."
Add about a thousand orange barrels with flashing yellow lights on top and you have the 2010 Indians.
Fausto Carmona does not pitch well against the Twins. He didn't pitch well in Fenway Park either. Carmona purged that problem last week in a 6-5 victory in Boston. He still has some work to do against the Twins.
Carl Pavano, the forgotten ace the Indians traded after they dealt CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee, beat his old team on the one-year anniversary of being shipped to Minnesota for a song, a dance and Yohan Pino. Pavano is 19-11 since the that trade.
"They had me on the ropes all game," said Pavano. "They had plenty of opportunities to kind of put me away, but I was able to make some pitches to get us back in the dugout.
"And I got away with some pitches for sure."
Yes, he did.
After Shelley Duncan's leadoff single in the second, Jordan Brown, Matt LaPorta and Luis Valbuena hit three long drives to the warning track in right. Jason Kubel caught Brown's ball with little problem, but LaPorta and Valbuena tested him.
Acta compared Saturday's loss to the sweet science.
"Baseball is a little bit like boxing," said Acta. "If you don't hit your opponent, they're going to hit you. Where we lost the ballgame was back-to-back innings we had runners on second and third and we couldn't execute offensively. Each time they came back and scored."
In the sixth, with the score tied, 2-2, Duncan walked and Brown, who had three of the Tribe's nine hits, singled him to third with one out and advanced to second on Kubel's error. Pavano retired LaPorta on a grounder to third and Valbuena on a fly ball to left.
The Twins took a 3-2 lead in the seventh as Michael Cuddyer doubled and scored on J.J. Hardy's single.
Jayson Nix singled and Trevor Crowe walked to start the seventh against Pavano. Michael Brantley advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, but Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out to first, Shin-Soo Choo was intentionally walked and Duncan struck out.
"He chased a bad pitch," said Pavano, 14-7, 3.28.
Acta agreed.
"Pavano has been around," he said. "He got ahead of Shelley 2-0 and didn't throw him another strike, but still got him out. He preyed on our aggressiveness."
The Twins responded with three runs in the eighth, Trevor Plouffe starting the inning with his first big-league homer.