At times during conversations with friends I'll refer to what I call the "the beauty and the horror" of baseball: barring a rainout or some kind of natural calamity, a ball game isn't over until the 27th out is recorded. There is no time limit on innings or on the game itself as a whole, and there is no "shot clock" on individual at-bats. Therefore, anything can and does happen, which partially helps explain utter horror shows like Game 1.
Perhaps making this game even uglier in retrospect was that many people were expecting a world class pitcher's duel between the two leading contenders for this year's American League Cy Young award instead of the total rout that the Boston Red Sox exacted on the Cleveland Indians earlier this evening. The game started off promisingly enough for Cleveland: Travis Hafner getting a solo home run off Boston ace Josh Beckett in the first inning. This feat also represented the first and last time that Cleveland led the game. Boston managed to tie up the contest at the bottom of the same inning on three consecutive singles from their patient and persistent offense, presaging another rough start for Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia. Using the phrase "another rough start" in the same sentence as "C.C. Sabathia" is something I never imagined I'd be writing this year, but as the Sox picked up three more runs in the third, and then broke the game open in the fifth (after which Beantown towered above the reeling Tribe by a score of 8-1), one could not help but wonder what the hell had happened to their workhorse since the end of September. Ugh.
It's difficult right now to know exactly what has gone wrong during Sabathia's last two starts, but the bearish Cy Young candidate is uncharacteristically floundering in the postseason, dealing out walks, seemingly unable to get third strikes (while having problems nailing down the preceding two), and allowing men to clog the base paths in disquieting numbers. Whether all of this is a derived from over excitement, a tiring arm from 240+ innings of work, a nine-day layoff since his last start, an apparently elastic strike zone, or some other undisclosed problem, Sabathia now sports an ALCS ERA of 16.62 (eclipsed so far only by Jensen Lewis' 27.00).
If there is any good news in this, you can expect that C.C.'s removal from the game in the fifth inning after 85 pitches makes it at least a possibility that he can start on short rest against Beckett (assuming Boston makes a similar move), offering the possibility of a rematch on friendly ground next week. That said, expecting such a move from Tribe manager Eric Wedge, creature of habit that he has demonstrated himself to be, is pure fantasy at this point in time.
While we're on the topic of unexplainable terrible performances, I don't suppose Boston will be so kind as to pitch set-up man Eric Gagne again this series as he did his very best to get the Indians back into the game in the ninth inning (as has seemingly been his wont ever since arriving in Beantown at the end of July), but despite all the bases on balls and contact hits, a Cleveland-style miracle comeback was not to be. Perhaps fittingly on this most unsightly off-night, ALCS Game 1 ended exactly as it started, with a Grady Sizemore strikeout. Sigh.All Cleveland fans can reasonably hope for tomorrow is a win to split this part of the series, setting both teams back to even for a return to the Jake on Monday. I remember thinking last month that facing the Red Sox in a five-game series with their rotation would be a terrifying prospect. Man, am I glad right now that we got the seven-game series instead.
Let's go, Fausto!
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