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CLEVELAND _ The Cleveland Indians owned the American League Central Division for so long they didn't know how to react last June when the White Sox marched into Jacobs Field and pulled off a three-game sweep.
One by one the Indians insisted they were still the team to beat. Some of them even suggested, under their breath, the Sox players would admit the same thing.
That perfect seven-game swing through Cleveland and New York turned out to be the fork in the road for the Sox, who vaulted to a 7{-game lead after the back-to-back series sweeps and went on to end the Indians' five-year reign atop
the division.
Monday afternoon in Jacobs Field, the Sox and Indians resume their rivalry in the opening game of the season, with newcomer David Wells facing Cleveland's Bartolo Colon.
Even if the shoe is on the other foot, with the Indians trying to upend the Sox, the overwhelming sentiment in Cleveland is the Sox are still the ones who are doing the chasing.
Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., who spent the last 11 years with Cleveland before signing on with the Sox as a free agent last winter, said you can't expect a tiger to change its stripes.