Fans, not bugs, swarm Jacobs Field


A few Chief Wahoo
protesters showed up.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Paul Weyand grabbed the free packet of insect repellent, but he didn’t think he’d need it.

He didn’t think the Indians would need a return visit from a swarm of bugs to squash the Boston Red Sox either.

Indians fans, and a strong contingent of Red Sox faithful, welcomed back the ALCS to Cleveland for the first time in nine years Monday night.

The bugs didn’t show but the Indians won 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

It also was the first game at Jacobs Field since an invasion of midges pestered Joba Chamberlain and the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs. “The Bug Game” was still fresh in everybody’s minds Monday.

“I’m glad the bugs came in against the Yankees,” said Weyand, 59, of Columbus. “It was a good omen.”

But Weyand was counting on Cleveland’s pitching to beat Boston in the series tied 1-1, not pests from the shores of Lake Erie.

He was one of many fans to pick up bug repellent wipes passed out by the makers of Cutter, who apparently know a marketing opportunity when they see one.

“We’re keeping the midges on the mound,” said Stephanie Strawbridge, hired by Cutter to wear a black and yellow bumblebee costume and pass out the bug repellent near the stadium. “That’s our secret weapon.”

Midges breed on the outskirts of lakes during warm fall weather. When temperatures reached an unseasonable 80 degrees on Oct. 5 with the Yankees in town, the bugs visited the ballpark just in time to distract Chamberlain into throwing two wild pitches as the Indians came back to win 2-1 in 11 innings.

Temperatures were only in the upper 60s Monday, but Gary Ramey, a divisional vice president for Cutter, which is made by St. Louis-based Spectrum Brands, was hoping it was warm enough for the pests to come back out.

“They don’t like people from Boston,” Ramey said.

There were plenty of Red Sox fans in town, too.

“My boyfriend is from Boston, but I still love him,” said Laurie Jacobsen, a 21-year-old student at Kent State University. “He loves Manny Ramirez, but I consider [Ramirez] a traitor who left the Indians.”

“Manny’s the greatest hitter in the game,” said Bill Elliott, 21, proudly displaying his gray Red Sox T-shirt with Ramirez’s No. 24 on the back in red. “She’s just jealous that Manny had to leave Cleveland to win the World Series.”

Red Sox fan Jordan Sarno, 24, from Springfield, Mass., wasn’t too worried about bugs or Indians fans, who he said are a lot friendlier than the ones at Yankee Stadium.

“I’d like it to be a little bit louder,” said Sarno, wearing a Jonathan Papelbon jersey. “We’re used to a rowdier crowd.

“Hopefully, we’ll be up 10 runs by the time bugs get out.”

On the other side of Jacobs Field, Philip Yenyo of Cleveland and nine others protested the Indians’ nickname and mascot Chief Wahoo.

“It’s time to change your racist image,” read a sign held by Tammy Belmonte, 45, of Kent, a Lakota Sioux Indian.

The 41-year-old Yenyo wasn’t getting much support from playoff-happy Indians fans, who jeered at the protesters as they drove past.

“We’ve gotten a lot of hand gestures, a lot of people swearing at us,” said Yenyo, an Aztec Indian.

Yenyo thinks the alleged curse that has kept the Indians from winning the World Series since 1948 might have something to do with their nickname.

“They’ve been to the dance and they always fail,” Yenyo said.

He suggested they go back to the nickname “Spiders,” which the club used in the 1890s.

Or how about the Cleveland Midges?

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