CLEVELAND -- There's a pulse again in Progressive Field, a heartbeat that's returned to the field to rejoin the drumbeat that's always in the bleachers.

The folks running the music in the ballpark have to resist the urge to rock the house to Prince. Because it feels like the Cleveland Indians are once again going to party like it's 1999. Or 1995. Or 1997. Or 2007.

The Tribe is back, putting together the best story in baseball with a 30-17 record that has Cleveland in control of the American League Central and with the best record in the game. The Indians are an incredible 19-6 at home and producing last at-bat drama seemingly every night.

And slowly but surely, the fans are coming back.

Owners of a 455-game sellout streak from 1995 to 2001, the Indians were last in baseball in attendance in 2010 at just under 1.4 million as a second straight 90-loss season combined with the sliding economy of the town made for some quiet nights.

Things started no better this year, with the lowest crowds in the history of the 18-year-old ballpark and brutal weather bringing back plenty of memories of the gatherings at old Municipal Stadium a mile up the street by Lake Erie.

But things have turned around the last couple of weeks. There were 33,000-plus in the house May 13 for a thrilling win over Seattle on Travis Hafner's walkoff home run. And last weekend's sweep of the Cincinnati Reds drew more than 99,000 for three games, the most for a weekend series since 2008.

"We know it's a whole new group of guys and a whole new year," said Hafner, one of just five players left from the 2007 season when the Tribe was a victory away from the World Series before blowing a 3-1 lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS.

"You don't think about it much but we went a long way in that '07 season and it was great the way the crowds showed up. It was so much fun. It's all about getting back into the playoffs."

Indians lighten the mood

Few towns have ever needed a team to burst on the scene like Cleveland needs the Indians.

The Indians didn't spend a day in first place in 2009 and 2010, combining to lose 190 games. In 2011, they've been in first place in the AL Central every day since April 7 and have helped improve the mood in a city still reeling from "The Decision."

When LeBron James jilted his home region last summer by taking his talents to South Beach, he seemingly took anything good left in the sports world here with him. Just down the street from the ballpark, the iconic, 10-story LeBron Nike billboard at Huron and Ontario streets that told Clevelanders "We Are All Witnesses" is gone.

Would there be any witnesses left anymore? The billboard has been replaced by a night skyline shot of the city sponsored by Sherwin Williams that reads: "Our home since 1866. Our pride forever." But what pride was left?

"There's a very sincere thirst for a positive sports story here," said first-year club President Mark Shapiro, who built the Buffalo Bisons' championship clubs of 1997 and 1998 as Cleveland's farm director and has spent the previous nine years as general manager. "You can feel how badly people want it. We recognize the ability we have as part of the sports industry to influence a city's psyche positively is a great thing."

Most experts thought the Indians were a year from contending but the talk in spring training was that there was a real chance to capture the public's hearts if that timetable got pushed up.

"You heard a lot in Arizona that this could be a window to get people back on board because of LeBron leaving, because the Browns might be on a lockout and the feeling was this team could be a lot better," said Jim Rosenhaus, who spent 11 seasons as the radio voice of the Bisons before joining the Tribe's radio crew in 2007. "So I know we felt if we get off to a decent start there's a window here with no Cavs playoffs, no Browns minicamp."

Sounds simple enough. Enthusiasm was high. Then came Opening Day on April 1 against the White Sox. After five innings, a sellout crowd saw its Tribe trail, 14-0. What was Shapiro thinking?

"Dark thoughts," he said with a laugh. "In my head for the first moment I was having some team president thoughts as well as GM ones. This was the only big crowd we were going to have here for a month and we're not giving them any enticement to come back. As a baseball guy, I'm smart enough to not read too much into it. From a business side, this is not the first impression we want."

But maybe that moment was when all this started because the Tribe didn't accept its fate that day. In fact, it battled back to have the tying run on deck before finally losing, 15-10.

"So now the reaction turned to, 'Wow, that team was pretty scrappy that day,'" Rosenhaus said. "That could have been really ugly but in about an hour's time it went from 'Oh boy, this is really, really bad' to 'Hey, that wasn't so bad after all.'"

Up in the stands, the quick change in attitude was palpable. John Adams felt it. Adams, 59, has been a fixture at Indians games since 1973, beating his drum from the top row of the left-field bleachers. He's seen it all over more than 3,000 games that stretch from nights of a few hundred in the stands to the World Series in 1995 and '97.

"When they came back and scored the 10 runs, that told me this team has character," Adams said. "They are not gonna roll over and die. They have character and that's important. It's important to have talent and pride. They have team pride. Everybody can see that."

Trades brought good return

How did the Tribe get here so suddenly? There were signs last year, Manny Acta's first as manager. The Indians' record was 35-39 in the second half of the season and the pitching staff's ERA was a decent 3.89. And some painful trades are finally paying dividends.

The 2002 trade of Bartolo Colon brought Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore, produced a 93-win season in 2005 and a division championship in '07. But by 2008, big-money deals were not in the offing for CC Sabathia or Lee and the sale was on.

The trades have come in all shapes and sizes.

Sabathia yielded Michael Brantley and Matt LaPorta from Milwaukee. Lou Marson, Carlos Carrasco and Jason Donald came from Philadelphia for Lee. Ace Justin Masterson came from the Red Sox for Victor Martinez and so did key pitching prospect Nick Hagadone, now at Triple-A Columbus. Carlos Santana was a Class A catcher for the Dodgers when he was acquired for Casey Blake.

Closer Chris Perez came from St. Louis for journeyman infielder Mark DeRosa. Even non-descript trades with Seattle have produced Asdrubal Cabrera (for Eduardo Perez) and Shin-Soo Choo (for Ben Broussard). Cabrera is having a breakout season at shortstop.

"Periods like this are an affirmation of why you go through those tough times," said Shapiro, the GM who had to deal Cy Young winners in consecutive years.

"We know and accept the reality of building teams in a market like this. It's about making tough decisions that are never popular and are challenging emotionally to both us and our fans. But when you win again with players you believe in, it is extremely gratifying."

The Indians also added character veterans like Orlando Cabrera, Adam Everett and Jack Hannahan to steady the clubhouse.

There are issues, of course. Sizemore (knee), Hafner (oblique) and 2009 No. 1 draft pick and star pitcher of the future Alex White (finger) have landed on the disabled list. Choo and Santana aren't hitting much. Another right-handed bat and another starting pitcher would help. Still, the Tribe has the best run differential in the majors, its pitching is fourth in the American League and the defense is much improved.

"I thought if they had the year of their life, they'd get to .500 but that's OK. I don't mind being wrong," Adams said. "It's really been great. It's a great ride. They're really playing."

Business climate bad

The Opening Day payroll was just a shade over $48 million -- after it was $81.6 million as recently as 2009 -- and is 26th in the majors out of 30 teams. The season ticket base started the season at only around 7,000 and while that's growing, it's still under 10,000. That's a pittance when you're dealing with a major-league team.

The Indians drew 2.3 million in 1997 and that seems to be an outside ceiling this year. Shapiro points out that four Fortune 500 companies (BP Oil, OfficeMax, TRW and National City Bank) have left town in the last decade. According to Census figures, the city's population dropped 17 percent between 2000 and 2010. There are fewer luxury suites and fewer season tickets purchased.

The glory days were a perfect storm never to be repeated: A new ballpark and a good team drove revenues when other cities were turned off by the 1994 strike, the Browns were off to Baltimore and LeBron was still in grade school.

"It was a convergence of every possible positive condition you may ever have," Shapiro said. "If we win, more people will come. You can't look at it through the lens and context of the mid and late '90s. It's a different city, a smaller city and a poorer city. But we are starting to see some very positive momentum, whether it's television ratings, social media or attendance here."

Adams insists the fans always cared and a winning team will draw many of them back.

"It's not that people don't want to be there. It's the availability of people to be there," he said. "I heard complaints from people who to fire and who to hire. I don't care if they're right or wrong but they care and they're paying attention. If they're miserable and nobody says anything, that's when you start to worry."

Social media consciousness

How do you get the fans back? Like you've always done, you have to win. But this is 2011, so there are other ways.

There are social media discounts on tickets via Twitter and Facebook and Shapiro will run contests on his Twitter feed (@MarkShapiro).

"We have a strategy there," Shapiro said. "Not just to enter into it but to enter into it with an ability to strategically connect with our fans. That's emblematic of us recognizing our process in recent years has caused disconnect.

"If you're not cognizant of the fact social media is one of the primary ways to reach out to fans and court fans and develop them, then you're not recognizing the realities of today's media world. There's just too many people out there that this is their primary way of interacting," he said. "You can't ignore it. You have to embrace it."

Acta (@mactriber_11) puts up a "Song of the Day" each morning, often in English and Spanish, and will twitpic a shot of his celebratory cigar after each win. And he's not shy about general tweets.

"This is the future, this is where it's heading," the 42-year-old Acta told the Washington Post earlier this season. "Especially the young people, that's how you connect."

Earlier this week, Acta tweeted, "Good morning 'Head Down Generation' ... Look around you, other than a cool cell phone or laptop, we have a beautiful world." He also tweeted thanks this month in both languages to Texas manager Ron Washington for selecting him as a coach to the All-Star Game.

"Manny's Twitter feed is absolutely a representative of the kind of person he is," Shapiro said. "He's a happy, positive person that has a passion for baseball and life and it really comes through."

The fans have seen a season's worth of drama. The Tribe had a 14-game home winning streak and had six straight last at-bat wins in one stretch.

"I don't want to be behind and I don't want to be expecting it but the way we're going ... you can't help it now with the way these guys have done it," Acta said the night Hafner went deep. "It's like, 'Hey, we have a chance.' Especially with the way these guys have been at the plate."

"We know they came out for the fireworks but we still played well, and we gave them fireworks in the ninth inning," Brantley added.

Said Hafner: "We're having a blast. Winning is obviously a big part of that. You win games, get good chemistry on the team and it makes coming to the park every day a lot of fun."

mharrington@buffnews.comnull