So it took a mere 45 games. But baseball’s cult act was, at last, getting a taste of the mainstream. All through April, and most of May, this group had kept on winning. Sometimes it jumped out to big early leads. Other times it waited until the eighth or ninth inning, or beyond, to prevail. Still, none of their games showed up on ESPN or Fox, even after they settled into a big division lead and acquired the best record in the Major Leagues. Worse yet, the experts kept predicting their inevitable demise, almost hoping for it so that the upstarts would go away. A week before Memorial Day, the powers-that-be caved. Lo and behold, here was the Cleveland Indians on ESPN2 – meeting the Red Sox, of course. No way that the Worldwide Leader was going to risk showing anything without some big-money ratings hog to tag along. And it was beautiful to watch, even as the rain fell in the dramatic homestretch. Down 2-1, the Tribe escaped trouble in the top of the eighth, even as manager Manny Acta, normally a mild-mannered guy, got tossed. Cut to the bottom of the eighth, two outs, tying run on second. Michael Brantley battles and pokes a single to right, tying it up. Then Asdrubal Cabrera, boiling-hot at the plate, is not walked with first base open and promptly doubles to put Cleveland ahead, and it’s bedlam. Now it’s the ninth, one out, and Boston has the tying run on third and go-ahead run on first. Carl Crawford is up. He never hits into double plays. And he promptly hits a hard one to second, 6-4-3 and, as broadcaster Tom Hamilton would say, “BALLGAME!” One win, that’s all, and the Red Sox promptly won the next two and Tampa Bay also beat them two out of three. But on that particular night, it felt as good as October because, finally, the nation got to see how much fun these unlikely Cleveland Indians are having. True confessions time – I have been, since childhood, a Tribe fan. I even saw two games in Municipal Stadium and, yes, it was that ugly. Needless to say, there have been immense ups and immense downs – the drought of the ’80s, the rise in the ’90s, the close calls in two World Series and two other ALCS appearances. Worse yet, though, is the loneliness one feels rooting for Cleveland when, all around you, there is nothing but Yankee oppression and (to a lesser extent) the Red Sox bandwagon. That’s all you see. That’s all you hear about. And one time you just want to stick it to all of them. Add to that the economic disparity between the have-not Tribe (payroll $48 million) and those with five times the quid. Further add the fact that, if those big-money boys had started 29-15, the same experts that have constantly dissed the Tribe would be handing out pennants. Most of all, there’s the story of Cleveland itself. The city, and all of its sports teams and all of its fans, have taken so many body blows through the decades, from John Elway to Michael Jordan to Art Modell. And don’t even bring up “The Decision”, ESPN’s fully-endorsed Cleveland takedown. Going into 2011, the Tribe was not supposed to reverse all these bad fortunes. It had lost 93 games a season ago. Just about everyone on the roster was unproven. All that was hoped for was a win streak here and there and, if everything went right, perhaps Cleveland would threaten .500. Then on Opening Day against the White Sox, Cleveland fell behind….14-0….in the fifth inning. No one present could have possibly conceived that the face-saving comeback to make it a 15-10 defeat would set the stage for pure magic in the weeks ahead. A once-unproven pitching staff has blossomed, led by Justin Masterson, who’s got all the stuff to be an ace of the first order, and Fausto Carmona. Cabrera anchors a young and hungry lineup where the likes of Carlos Santana haven’t even started to click. Chris Perez, while shaky, closes for a fast-improving bullpen. Jaded and jilted Cleveland sports fans (for good reason) are starting to show up at the Artist Formerly Known as the Jake. Early on, they couldn’t get close to 10,000, just like the bad old days at Municipal. Now it’s starting to get loud. And just imagine if this continues into the summer and fall. Cleveland has gone nearly a half-century without any kind of pro sports championship. Every narrative, regardless of the sport, has ended with the swift kick to the gut. Just the mere idea that these guys could change all of that is too incredible to even conceive. So, perhaps more than at any other time in my long life following them, I really, really, REALLY want the Cleveland Indians to keep up this improbable run, and will, loudly and shamelessly, yell “Go Tribe” all the way to the end, bitter or sweet. How about sweet, one time?