Whew

At 162 games, Major League Baseball has the longest regular season in American sports. Still, getting swept in your first series is not a good way to start off.
Pennants aren't necessarily won or lost in April, but a team's tendencies and self-image can be cast in concrete by the end of that first month. Reference last year: the Indians' bullpen squirmed through an atrocious April, and with its collective confidence thoroughly shot, didn't recover until after Bob Wickman came back to the mound in late June.
That's why Thursday afternoon's rally to beat the White Sox and avert a first-series sweep was so important for Cleveland. The Indians spotted White Sox starter Jose Contreras five runs in the first couple of innings.
Contreras, a former prized Cuban defector signing of the Yankees, keeps making George Steinbrenner look more and more like a fool for his decision to make an off-the-cuff trade last year, sending the somewhat-underachieving Contreras to Chicago for the fizzling Esteban Loaiza.
Contreras is the real deal, and when the ancient likes of Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson begin to break down this year, Steinbrenner will want Contreras back. But I digress.
The point is, the Sox have an excellent starting rotation, not to mention Dustin Hermanson, Damaso Marte and Shingo Takatsu at the back of the bullpen. Scoring runs against them is going to be work this year. Which makes Cleveland's rally all the more impressive.
The offense worked to scrape together five runs all series prior to the ninth inning Thursday, when Takatsu took the goat horns off Wickman's head by giving up home runs to Casey Blake, Coco Crisp and Ronnie Belliard. From then on, it was like the pinata broke. All the stored-up offensive mojo from the week gushed forth in a six-run 11th inning. They won 11-5, and the series was salvaged.
If Cleveland hadn't rallied, they would have been the only winless team left in the American League heading into tonight's series at Detroit. Maybe it isn't much at 0-3, but if 0-3 were to become 0-6 or even 1-5, foreheads would start getting really sweaty in the Indians clubhouse. Seasons are marathons, but months can turn into sprints when a team starts out poorly.
Thursday's rally was a safety valve before the pressure got too high. The first win is in the books, and now the Indians can settle into the rhythm of the season.