Indians happy to be home

Weather permitting, the Indians and Twins will play today at 3 p.m.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Indians are finally back where it all ended -- badly, wrongly, miserably -- last October.
Six months after choking away any postseason hopes with a punch-in-the-gut collapse in the final week of 2005, the Indians will play their home opener this afternoon at Jacobs Field against the Minnesota Twins.
After spending three days in Chicago watching the White Sox raise a few banners, slide into their World Series rings, be presented with their world championship trophy -- again -- and basically be glorified as the newly crowned kings of baseball, the Jake has never looked so good.
"I'm anxious to get home to just be at home, get to Cleveland and take care of this next series," said left-hander Cliff Lee, who got a no-decision in the Indians' 4-3, 11-inning win on Wednesday. "That's pretty much it. Last season is over now. We've proven we are a pretty good team over the last couple of years.
"Now it's time to do something. What happened last year is over."
Better start
Apparently so. In wet and windy Chicago, the Indians certainly played as if they've turned the page.
They outhit, outpitched and outlasted the AL Central champions, who were 9-0 in one-run games against Cleveland a year ago. That statistic alone -- Cleveland set a franchise record with 36 losses by a run -- was the difference between making the AL playoffs and a winter thinking about what might have been.
If possible, the Indians don't want to repeat any of their past mistakes. The biggest one was allowing the White Sox, 14-5 against Cleveland in '05, to get too far ahead. Chicago went wire-to-wire in winning it all.
"To get off to a good start and put them behind us for the first time in a long time is a good thing," Lee said. "They got up on us last year and never looked back. Hopefully we can do some of that this year."
Other than C.C. Sabathia's pulled stomach muscle and a three-hour rain delay in Sunday's opener, things couldn't have gone much better in Chicago:
Aaron Boone, bewildered at the plate for several months early last season, had four hits and four RBIs in Tuesday's 8-2 win. On top of that, Boone further endeared himself to Indians fans -- and many others -- by barreling over Chicago catcher A.J. Pierzynski at the plate.
Jason Michaels, the club's new left fielder and replacement for Coco Crisp in the No. 2 hole, batted .462 in the series, reached base eight times and had four hits, including an RBI double in the 11th inning that won the finale. The Indians traded for Michaels to help improve the club's on-base percentage.
Casey Blake looked better than ever in right field, making several tough, running catches in Wednesday's win. He also batted .444 and battled at the plate, drawing four walks in the No. 9 spot.
Cleveland's revamped bullpen combined to blank the White Sox for 52/3 innings on Wednesday. Setup man Guillermo Mota, tabbed to replace Bob Howry, escaped two nasty jams and allowed only one hit in 12/3 innings.
And slimmed-down closer Bob Wickman walked his usual tight rope before retiring the hefty heart of Chicago's lineup -- Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Rob Mackowiak -- for his first save.
Last year's woes
The Indians dug themselves a hole by going 9-14 last April. So far, they're above ground.
"While we do not want to place too much emphasis on any one series or game, it is important for us to win series in our division and this one was meaningful due to our desire to get off to a good start," general manager Mark Shapiro said. "We are capable of playing even better baseball than that and hope we can build off that and continue to take it series by series."
The opener with Minnesota will feature the usual pomp and circumstance, but for Indians starter Paul Byrd, it will have even more meaning.
The right-hander, who signed a two-year, $14.25 million free agent contract during the offseason, is back with the organization that drafted him back in 1991.
Before last weekend's opener in Chicago, Byrd got goose bumps as he slipped a Cleveland uniform over his head.