Cleveland Indians

If you watch Cleveland Indians baseball or "you are in the Tribe," then you know the Indians are on a hot start in 2011.

After winning eight straight, including sweeps of the Red Sox and Mariners, the Indians are looking like they want to take charge of an AL Central that is up for grabs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Asdrubal Cabrera is the straw that stirs the Cleveland Indians' drink.

The Tribe is back. The Cleveland Indians are showing a lot of potential in this 2011 season. Yes, the season is young as we are only nine games in, but what can we take from these games? The seven game wining streak will eventually come to an end, but the aptitude will continue throughout the season. The Indians are stacked with talent and will continue to blend well as a team.

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Wake up Cleveland! There is a contender in town and I'm not talking about the Lake Erie Monsters, either!

After dropping their first two games to the Chicago White Sox, the Indians have been on fire, rattling off seven wins in a row—taking a broom to both the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. Sure, this could be just a fluke, right? Both the Red Sox and Mariners have struggled early. Plus the Tribe are supposed to finish in the American League cellar, according to almost every sports writer in America.

Something must certainly be wrong here. The Cleveland Indians, nearly a consensus pick to be among the worst teams in American League, have now won seven games in a row. Today's 6-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners pushed their record to 7-2, good for first in the AL Central. Stranger?

Dear Clevelanders,

I hope I don't jinx anything, but the Indians are playing some good ball right now.  They have won five games in a row, and have done it in different fashions, showing their versatility.  I don't harbor any World Series illusions, but a little support for these guys couldn't hurt.  Hear me out before saying you hate Dolan and Shapiro and write off the idea of attending a game.

If you would have told me that the Cleveland Indians were going to be 4-2 five days ago, I'd have laughed you under the rock you just crawled out of.  I half think that I would have laughed had you said 2-4.  Somehow, the Indians have righted the ship behind solid starting pitching, a rock-solid bullpen, solid play from supposedly un-solid acquisitions, and some great "feel" calls from Manny Acta.

Shin-Soo Choo got his swing back in the first inning—he rocked a two run homer scoring Michael Brantley. Travis Hafner did a great job of getting pitches out of Daisuke Matsuzaka.  After nines pitches, Prunk took the walk. Orlanda Cabrera was hit by a pitch, but the Indians couldn’t make anymore out of the first inning leaving two runners on.

The 2011 baseball season has barely begun, but there are some positive signs for the Cleveland Indians.

Pitchers deep in the rotation have pitched late into ballgames against the talent laden squads of Chicago and Boston.

Names like Carlos Santana, Orlando Cabrera and Jack Hannahan have provided offensive pop for the Tribe.

Perhaps most notably, however, is the resurgence of Indians DH Travis Hafner.

Go ahead readers, guess the team with the low attendance numbers.

Team A: 9,853; 8,726; 9,025.

Team B: 20,000; 18,936; 10,482.

Team A is Cleveland. Team B is Florida.

Surprised?

With an estimation of 1.3 million fans in attendance during the 2010 season and not cracking the five figure mark after Opening Day, it is clear that the sports fans in Cleveland are no longer interested in their major league baseball team.