Cleveland Indians....

The opening day of baseball is not nearly enough time to come to any conclusions on the season. It is just one game out of 162 total. Injuries will occur, players will go through hot and cold streaks. Trades can shake up rosters as well as AAA call-ups. One game is not enough time to make any definitive statements.

            But after the first TWO games of the season? I think it’s plenty of time to start (irrationally) jumping to conclusions.

• After blowing a 5 run lead, the Cleveland Indians found themselves tied with the Chicago White Sox. Up comes Casey Blake. Two outs. Two strikes. Bases loaded. To the surprise of every Tribe fan, Casey Blake came through and hit a 3-run double. While my money was on a strike three looking, Blake somehow produced in the clutch. I’ll chalk this up to a freak occurrence and wouldn’t expect too many big hits from Blake this year.

• While Blake defied expectations, Joe Borowski followed through on his blood-pressure-raising ways. Give up a home run? Check. Walk a batter? Check. Bring the tying run to the plate? Check. Once again, Borowski managed to get the third out and escape with a save. Between Wickman  and now Borowski,  I think I've aged 15 years thanks to all the stress they put their fans through.

• One of the bigger questions heading into the season was just how well Franklin Gutierrez will handle being an everyday player. So far, it seems like he’ll handle it quite well. The biggest sign of improvement came in the bottom of the 5^th in Tuesday’s game. With the bases loaded and two strikes, Gutierrez showed enough discipline to lay off a breaking ball and to let a high fastball go for a walk that brought in a run. When he was first called up, Gutierrez would have been swinging for the fences.

• Two new relievers made their debut – Masa Kobayashi and Jorge Julio – and they were less than stellar. Kobayashi gave up two hits before making way for Rafael Perez (who once again faced bases loaded and managed to close the inning without giving up a run). Julio, on the other hand, wrapped up the 9^th after a home run and 29 pitches thrown. With that being said, I would take either one of those over Aaron Fultz any day.

• During one of Grady Sizemore’s at bats, you could hear the faint, but noticeable “M-V-P” chants from the crowd. Grant it it’s only two games, but he’s already batting .500 and has a triple, homer, and four RBI’s! For right now, lets just say he’s in the running.

• Count me a fan of the Indians new alternate uniforms. Their minimalist design with no names on the back fits well with this team’s personality. The throwback uniforms certainly look good on this throwback team.

Okay, it is only two games. There is certainly enough time for things to change dramatically. But if the first two games are any indication, it doesn’t look like the Indians will be suffering from a postseason hangover resulting from their disappointing finish to last season.

Then again, maybe this good start is a sign of things to come. Is it really too early to start making conclusions?

Well….considering the Indians are tied with Kansas City – that’s right, the Royals – for first place in the division, I would say it’s too early.