AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Indians Are First Again--41 Years Later

The Cleveland Indians have made such a shambles of the AL Central race, they no longer find it curious that they’re the first team guaranteed a spot in baseball’s 1995 playoffs.

Even if it has been 41 years since they last appeared in a postseason game.

The Indians clinched the division with a 3-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night at Cleveland.

“I think it has been inevitable for the last four or five weeks,” General Manager John Hart said. “It’s been obvious that this club is special. The last two years have been a golden age of Cleveland Indians baseball, but there’s a lot left for us to do.”

Of all the players on Cleveland’s roster, only Dave Winfield, 43, was alive the last time the Indians finished in first place. The year was 1954, and although the Indians won an AL-record 111 games that season, they were swept by the New York Giants in the World Series.

They haven’t been back since.

However, the Indians have seemed to be shoo-ins for the playoffs since they swept a four-game series in late May from last year’s division leaders, the Chicago White Sox.

“Let’s face it, this team has played well all year, and we haven’t had to look over our shoulder,” third baseman Jim Thome said. “What I’ve tried to do is not get too high or low. If we all do that and try to stay that way through September and October, we should be fine.”

New York 8, Boston 4--Darryl Strawberry hit a three-run homer at New York and David Cone won for the sixth time in seven games since joining the Yankees.

Cone (15-7), who was obtained by the Yankees from Toronto on July 28, had a no-hitter until Willie McGee singled to center with two out in the sixth inning. He gave up seven hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings, did not issue a walk and struck out 10. It was the 40th time he had 10 or more strikeouts in a game.

Loser Tim Wakefield (15-4) gave up five runs on only two hits.

Toronto 9, Detroit 5--Rookie Jeff Ware checked the Tigers on three hits over 5 1/3 innings and Joe Carter and Paul Molitor homered at Toronto.

Ware (1-1) gained his first major league victory and lowered his ERA from 40.50 to 10.28. He gave up three runs, struck out four and walked seven after lasting only 1 1/3 innings in his only other major league start, on Sept. 2 against Chicago.

Molitor hit his 15th homer of the season with one out in the first to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee 10, Texas 1--B.J. Surhoff and Greg Vaughn each hit home runs at Milwaukee in a game between teams scrapping to stay in the race for the final wild-card spot in the American League.

Ricky Bones (9-10) limited the Rangers to six hits in six innings.

Seattle 4, Kansas City 1--Randy Johnson (14-2) gave up only four hits in his first start in 13 days and Luis Sojo hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs at Seattle.