The Best Cleveland Indians Moments of 2012

In less than a week it will be 2013. Most Tribe fans will probably be glad to turn the page on 2012, but frustrating as this season was it wasn’t all bad. So in this special edition of the Weekly Wroundtable, we asked our big group of panelists: What was the best Indians moment of 2012?

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Steve Kinsella (Wahoo’s on First): Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner going back to back on Justin Verlander to tie the game at 3-3. Then a Jose Lopez single, two outs, and three straight hits to take a 5-3 lead. Chris Perez gets into trouble, thinks he has a double play ball to end it, and gets the K to end the game.

Ronnie Tellalian (Did the Tribe Win Last Night?): The best moment of 2012 was beating Justin Verlander on July 26th.

Evan Vogel (Wahoo’s on First): August 9: The day that they finally cut Johnny Damon.

Nino Colla (The Tribe Daily): The early months of course. The time we all thought the Indians may actually have a run in them that was going to produce something a little better than what we got in 2011. Of course it turned out to simply just be a repeat of that year, but it was fun while it lasted.

TD (WaitingForNextYear): Plain and simple—the hiring of Terry Francona.

Jeff Mount (Wahoo’s on First): The back-to-back home runs off Verlander. It really seemed like that put us in the race to stay. Who would have thought we would fall off the cliff the next day. Close runner-up would be the day Manny Acta got fired, which tells you all you need to know about the 2012 season. Aside from seeing Sandy Alomar manage for six games, knowing that Acta would not be around to destroy another season was the best news we could have gotten at that stage of the season.

David Roberts (Did the Tribe Win Last Night?): When the Indians topped Verlander and the Tigers 2-1 on May 24.

Lewie Pollis (Wahoo’s on First): When Sandy Alomar was named interim manager. It wasn’t long between when Manny Acta was fired and Terry Francona was hired, but seeing him as the skipper for six games brought me back to the glory days of the 90’s.

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Ed Carroll (Wahoo’s on First): Hafner and Santana taking Verlander deep to keep pace in the AL Central…at least until the low point.

Craig Lyndall (WaitingForNextYear): Beating Verlander. I’ll say the first time in May. Indians were in first place and felt legit-ish.

Vince Guerrieri (Did the Tribe Win Last Night?): That win against Justin Verlander and the Tigers on July 26. Santana’s home run got the ball rolling, and after that win, it felt like the Indians might not be out of the Central race.

Brian Heise (Wahoo’s on First): The three-game sweep of the Tigers on May 22, 23, 24. We looked like the team to beat in the AL Central and were playing great.

Merritt Rohlfing (Wahoo’s on First): Sweeping the Reds to split the season series. They’d just been swept by Cincy, and this was a nice payback. The midsummer sun was good to the Indians just like 2011, and this series included Asdrubal Cabrera walking off on the nigh unhittable Arodlis Chapman. Things got sour shortly after, but this was sweet.