Time to wax a little philosophical on you:



Baseball is the most romantic of sports. Yeah, there are football dreams, where a kid can fantasize about taking the hand-off and running 100 yards for a Super Bowl-winning touchdown, and basketball ones where a poor kid from Akron can parlay his talents into a home in South Beach.



But baseball is all about what COULD be.



That's why Starting Blocks is so hyped for Cleveland Heights native Justine Siegal. On Monday, she will fulfill a lifelong dream and become a member of the Cleveland Indians.

Sort of, anyway.



Siegal, the first woman to coach at the professional level -- she coached first base for the Independent League Brockton Rox, managed by former Red Sox great Bill Buckner in 2009 -- is the founder of Baseball For All.



She is scheduled to pitch batting practice to the Indians minor leaguers Monday morning, and if all goes well, to some of the big league players later. She's also going to pitch to the Oakland A's.



Bart Swain, one of the Tribe's media relations specialists, told Starting Blocks Siegal approached GM Chris Antonetti at the winter meetings to set all this up.



Siegal has been playing baseball since she was 5, and played in men's leagues till she was 22. The mom of an 13-year-old daughter is chronicling her journey through the majors -- and her dream to become a college coach -- in a blog you can follow by clicking here.



Here's how Siegal, who also founded the Girls International Baseball Academy, is preparing for the gig, according to a press release from Baseball For All attached to the blog:



We traded Facebook messages with Siegal, who said her best pitch is her curve. but, seein' as how this is BP, and the goal is letting 'em hit, she's gonna throw mainly four-seam fastballs. You know what would be funny, and sad at the same time: If she does indeed get to pitch the big leaguers ... and Travis Hafner puts up an O-fer.

are in Goodyear, Ariz., to cover spring training for the Indians. Hoynsie's installment in today's paper covers Grady Sizemore and his eight-hour-a-day love-hate-affair with a knee-rehabbing device called a Continuous Passive Motion machine.

How'd he survive? Let's just say you don't want to challenge him to a Call to Duty game on Playstation.

In other news, the Tribe may be trying to recapture mid-'90s lightning in a bottle. First, by bringing in first former manager Mike Hargrove as a special assistant. Now, former center fielder Kenny Lofton will be joining the team as an advisor and on-field baserunning coach.

Since fantasy is a large part of today's Indians links, here's one for Starting Blocks: Kenny shows he's still got it and GM Chris Antonetti decides to sign him to a one-year deal and activate him.



We'd pay regular price to see that.

Hoynsie's Indians Insider column deals with the Lofton news; and with free-agent infielder Orlando Cabrera. The 14-year veteran is being viewed as a "super utility player" for the Tribe, and should become part of the team as soon as he takes (and passes) his physical.