A tough road awaits the Indians

It's time to see if the young Indians can contend down the stretch.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- It took the defending American League Central Division champion Minnesota Twins 28 innings to finally build a lead at Jacobs Field.
But that advantage, which was generated by Corey Koskie's 10th-inning, two-run homer on Sunday, kept the slumping Twins in front of the surging Cleveland Indians.
It's time to see how the youthful Indians respond to a frustrating loss that prevented them from grabbing a piece of first place, something the team hasn't enjoyed this late in the season since 2001 when Roberto Alomar played second base, Jim Thome manned first and the aces were Bartolo Colon and Chuck Finley.
"We're a little bitter in here, but that's all right," Indians third baseman Casey Blake said. "We've still got a long way to go. There's a month-and-a-half to go, so nobody's putting to much into this loss."
Now that they're in a pennant race with the Twins, manager Eric Wedge says his veteran-deficient team's goal is to be "consistent -- they're [the Twins] a good ball club, the defending division champions for two years in a row. The fact is we've got to play good baseball against whoever we play."
Good homestand
Sunday's 4-2 loss capped a 5-1 homestand against the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota and snapped the Tribe's six-game winning streak.
"I think we did a great job on this homestand," said Indians starter Chad Durbin after tossing five shutout innings. "It was good for us to see them have to stress it out and have to beat us in the 10th inning."
The Indians came to the park Sunday hoping for a sweep of the Twins and a share of first place.
But unlike their blowout wins on Friday and Saturday when they scored a combined nine runs in the first innings, the Indians struggled against Twins starter Terry Mulholland.
Asked if the Indians' hot streak sent the Twins a message about their ability to contend, Indians second baseman Ronnie Belliard said, "They know it already. I think we've got momentum going. All week long, we've got to go out there and keep playing hard."
Tough road
Now comes the fun part. Except for two games with the Mariners in Seattle, the Indians play contenders through Sept. 12.
The Indians open a three-game set in Texas tonight against the Rangers, who are chasing the Oakland Athletics in the AL West and the Boston Red Sox for the wild card.
Cleveland's next homestand begins with three games against the Yankees. After that, the Chicago White Sox come to the Jake for a four-game set.
How far the rebuilding Tribe has progressed will be revealed over the next four weeks.