What is the statute of limitations on suffering, anyway?
The thought occurred Sunday night, just about the time attendants at Pro Player Stadium were preparing the visitors’ locker room for a bash.
The Indians were this close to winning Game 7 of the World Series, and then the Florida Marlins decided to let the long-suffering city of Cleveland hang for a little longer.
Cruel, but true.
How few and far between have baseball celebrations blessed Cleveland? Before the Indians were born again with their 1995 World Series appearance, they had won only three pennants. A short recitation of opponents need not be confused with current events.
To wit: The 1954 Indians lost to the New York Giants, who are no more. The 1948 Indians under manager/player Lou Boudreau defeated the Boston Braves, who have moved twice since. The 1920 Indians downed the Dodgers, who don’t live in Brooklyn anymore.
And now, from the ridiculous to the extreme. The Florida Marlins are five years young, breaking all the rules.
The designated-hitter gizmo, not a factor this weekend, was also not a deterrent to the visiting Indians. Chad Ogea, their pitcher in Game 6, knocked in two runs and had another single–half as many hits as he allowed in beating Kevin Brown, Florida’s ace.
On Sunday night, the pitching matchup seemed to swerve in favor of Cleveland, even before Jaret Wright, the 21-year-old rookie, was escorted to the bat rack and instructed to choose a weapon. With mates on first and second and none out, Wright clearly was bunting in self-defense.
Still, with two strikes, the kid tried again and nudged the ball to the right side, not the ideal direction when you’re asked to advance a man to third. However, Darren Daulton came in from first and couldn’t make the play cleanly at third on slow-footed Jim Thome.
Wright instead was retired, so he could watch from the dugout as Tony Fernandez lined a two-run single to center. Bobby Bonilla homered to lead off the seventh for Florida, and one out later, Wright was removed. But he gave the Indians all they could have wanted: 6 1/3 innings with a yield of two hits.
Wright, however, also had to sit there in the ninth. The 67,000 fans who had been so quiet during his tenure all stood as the Marlins tied the game 2-2 on a sacrifice fly to right by Craig Counsell, the diminutive second baseman from South Bend, Ind.
As recently as the 1991 season, the Indians were an accident in progress. They lost 105 games and barely drew over one million fans to Municipal Stadium, which was leveled last spring, and not a moment too soon.
On most nights, the cement mausoleum belonged to the midges, bugs that spawned in nearby Lake Erie and arrived en masse. They must have been patriotic, for at the sound of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” they arrived in battalions.
But soon, the Indians were bought by Dick Jacobs, a bashful man whose name is on the ballpark that changed the mood of the entire city. Soon, the Indians wanted free agents. Better yet, free agents wanted the Indians.
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These Indians lost the opening game of every playoff series–against the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and these Marlins. Then the Indians came here down 3-2 in games and played a perfect Game 6 Saturday night.
And then came Sunday night, another night for Cleveland to hold its breath.