Who Are You and What Have You Done With the Indians

Look out American League Central, here come the 8-2 Cleveland Indians.

The Tribe, fresh off a sweep of the Seattle Mariners, carried their winning streak to eight games Monday with a 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

Thanks to longballs by Asdrubal Cabrera and Matt LaPorta, along with some good defense and outstanding pitching, Talbot was able to take the shutout into the ninth inning before Bobby Abreu led off the ninth with a double on his 112th pitch. The righty was then lifted for Vinnie Pestano, who retired the Halos, 1-2-3. Talbot, who surrendered just five hits with four strikeouts and two walks, had this to say about his team's success:

"I don’t think anybody expected us to come out like this. But you look down this lineup and it’s pretty good. It's unbelievable... It's awesome. The thing is, I think we're capable of keeping it going."

This marks the longest stretch of victories for Cleveland since they knocked out 10 straight back in August 2008, just three months after their last-known possession of first place in the AL Central, which they have held for five whole days now. In fact, the ALC is all kinds of upside-down, with the Kansas City Royals holding down second place with a 6-3 record followed by the 6-4 White Sox. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers have each won three games.

Yes, we're only 9-10 games into the season, but damn that's bizarro.

Talbot isn't the only Cleveland arm slinging out there -- his impressive start slimmed the rotation's ERA down to 1.55 over the course of the streak. But will it continue? Stay tuned while ace Fausto Carmona takes on Dan Haren at 10:05pm ET tonight before Carlos Carrasco takes the hill against Ervin Santana for game three Wednesday evening in Los Angeles.

High five, Manny Acta.

[Cleveland Plain Dealer]