CLEVELAND — It’s hard to imagine for a last-place team that has been wrecked by injuries, traded off a host of veterans and now employs the youngest roster in the majors, but the toughest part might be over.
.
The Indians opened the second half with a testing stretch of 24 games against teams with winning records, including American League East Division heavyweights New York, Tampa Bay and Boston. Next up to finish the year are 50 games, 29 against clubs with sub-.500 records.
Putting an even more positive projection on the remainder of the regular season is that these little Indians have held their own since the All-Star break, going 13-11.
“I’m extremely happy with the way things have gone,” said manager Manny Acta. “We were really worried before the second half started about throwing these kids against big-time ballclubs with winning records. They stepped up. We survived that stretch.
“We’re starting a lighter side of the schedule. It’s baseball, still. That doesn’t mean it’s going to get any easier. But I felt that playing all those guys from the East (Division) and the Twins and the Tigers, that these kids probably had a hard time ahead of them.”
Who could blame him?
Already playing for the future with eight rookies on the roster (two others, Mitch Talbot and Carlos Santana, are on the disabled list), the Indians kicked off the second half with a pair of three-game series against Central Division rivals Detroit and Minnesota. Both teams were still in contention, the Tigers falling off the pace as of late.
Visits from the Rays and Yankees followed, New York in town with Alex Rodriguez in pursuit of his 600th home run.
Another pair of East tests came in a three-game series against Toronto, which leads the majors in home runs and slugging percentage, and a trip to Fenway Park for four games against the always formidable Red Sox.
The Indians wrapped up the 24-games-in-24-days marathon Sunday in the finale of a three-game series against the Twins, who entered Monday a half game behind the first-place White Sox.
“You look at that schedule, it’s a tough one, but tough schedules are a lot of fun because you get to play teams in contention,” Indians outfielder Shelley Duncan said. “When you play teams that are in contention and fighting for division titles, it’s more intense. It raises the level of your game. You should always play like that, but it’s just human nature.
“I think we wanted to have a good push after the All-Star break for ourselves. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Though they won’t be facing the same top-flight competition, Acta thinks his young club will benefit from the tough test to start the second half over the final two months of the season.
“It should help them,” he said. “I know that they just show up and play hard and probably don’t pay attention to that. But we do appreciate what they’ve done and realize that they really stepped up. I’m very pleased with how we’ve played since the second half started.”
Huffed stuffed?
David Huff is quickly working his way into Acta’s doghouse.
The left-hander, who began the season in the rotation, angered the Indians with an ill-fated Tweet, and, Sunday scoffed at Acta’s assessment of his performance.
Dismal results almost every time Huff (2-11, 6.21 ERA) has taken the mound for Cleveland this year haven’t done much to endear himself to his new manager, either.
“I still don’t see the fastball command, that’s the No. 1 thing,” Acta said. “As a kid, for him, he’s going to have to command the fastball, because that’s what makes your secondary pitches effective.”
A lack of command has left Huff behind in the count on too many occasions, leading to predictable results, according to Acta.
“That’s the reason why you don’t see bloops or anything like that,” said Acta of Huff, who has allowed 14 homers in 15 starts (79 2/3), while walking 34 and striking out 37. “They hit him hard because of that. Major league hitters, when they’re ahead in the count, become a lot better than they actually are.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.
