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Cleveland Indians Team Page

Team Name: Cleveland Indians Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio American League » Team History     » Team Schedule

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2008 Cleveland Indians Schedule

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Cleveland Indians History

One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Cleveland in 1901. The team actually began play in 1900, when the AL was officially a minor league. Then called the Cleveland Blues, the team played in League Park until moving to Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1932. They have an all-time franchise record of 8,075-7,711 (.512). The Indians are the reigning American League Central Champions.

In 2006 the Indians made several roster changes, while retaining its nucleus of young players. In the offseason, a three-team trade sent Coco Crisp, David Riske and Josh Bard to Boston and Arthur Rhodes to Philadelphia in exchange for third base prospect Andy Marté, catcher Kelly Shoppach and outfielder Jason Michaels. Shapiro signed Paul Byrd and Jason Johnson to replace Kevin Millwood and Scott Elarton and dealt veterans Bob Wickman, Ben Broussard, and Ronnie Belliard after the Indians had fallen out of contention. The team had a solid offensive season, led by career years from Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore. Hafner, despite missing a month after being hit by a pitch, tied the single season Grand Slam record with six, set in 1987 by Don Mattingly. The team hit a comnbined 14 Grand Slams to tie a record set by the Oakland A's in 2000. Despite the solid offensive performance, the bullpen struggled with a Major League worst 23 blown saves, and the Indians finished a disappointing fourth.

In 2007, Shapiro signed veteran help for the bullpen and outfield in the offseason. Veterans Aaron Fultz, and Joe Borowski joined Rafael Betancourt in the Indians bullpen. Shapiro also signed right fielder Trot Nixon and left fielder David Dellucci to short term contracts for veteran leadership. The Indians improved significantly over the prior year and went into the All-Star break in second place. The team brought back Kenny Lofton for his third stint with the team in late July. The Indians finished with a 96-66 record and their 7th Central Division title in 13 years and their first post season trip since 2001.

The Indians began their playoff run by defeating the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, 3 games to 1 and jumped out to a three games to one lead over the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. The season ended in disappointment when Boston swept the final three games to advance to the 2007 World Series.

Despite the loss, Cleveland players took home a number of awards. Grady Sizemore, who had a .995 fielding percentage and only two errors in 405 chances, won the Gold Glove award, Cleveland's first since 2001. Indians Pitcher C.C. Sabathia won the second Cy Young Award in team history with a 19-7 record, a 3.21 ERA and an MLB leading 241 innings pitched. Eric Wedge was awarded the first Manager of the Year Award in team history.

Information excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_indians. All Rights Reserved.

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