ALCS Game 7: Boston 11, Cleveland 2

So I guess that's what they mean by "home field advantage."

It's now official: there will be no World Series in Ohio this year, or even an American League title. Just three days ago, it looked like Cleveland had a real shot at a sports championship for the first time in over four decades. This morning, a brilliant sun shone cruelly down on Northeast Ohio: the perfect summery conditions a mockery of the darkened mood that has fallen over the Cleveland area over the last two days. As I type this post now, the weather is more appropriately cold and rainy as I join in with other sports fans around the area wondering what the hell just happened here.

One thing I am not going to start in on is this "God Hates Cleveland Sports"/Curse Of Rocky Colavito shit (though I half-jokingly alluded to the former in the Game 6 post) because that is just engaging in sheer denial. Five reasons why ...

1. It has been recently documented that Rocky Colavito has never wished a curse upon the team that traded him nearly fifty years ago.

2. We can be fairly certain that God (or whatever supreme omnipotent being you may or may not believe in) had far better things to do than make sure third base coach Joel Skinner held up Kenny Lofton ninety feet from tying the game in the seventh inning instead of sending him home to almost certainly beat a throw to the plate from Manny Ramirez.

3. It seems to me beneath God's style to flinch out Casey Blake (the real goat of this game, by the way) with an "AYYYYYBATTABATTABATTASWING!!!" during the very first pitch of the next at-bat.

4. I'd also put pretty good money on the idea that God did not whisper into Dustin Pedroia's ear to swing for the fences on the next 0-1 count that squawking half-orc midget got from Rafael Betancourt. In fact, nowhere in any scripture is it even hinted at that He is a member of the Red Sox Nation, or has grounds to hold any kind of supernatural bias against the Cleveland Indians.

5. It's possibly reasonably to assume that God isn't even a baseball fan at all (it's likely He finds entertainment in more graceful and "pure" human pastimes like Curling and Smear The Queer).

No, what we had over the last week was kind of like the last two weeks of the 2005 season in three-game microcosm. Call it a "choke" of epic proportions if you must (and judging as how the Indians somehow went from outplaying the rest of the league on Wednesday to playing their worst baseball of the year starting on Friday, I might allow the term to be used), but it appears that not only was the Tribe finally bested by the better overall team, but they were quite clearly running on fumes to boot.

During what little of the victory celebration I managed to endure after this latest heartbreaking disaster, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona mentioned that the lopsided scores of these games (particularly those of Games 2, 6 and 7) belied how close these contests really were, and he was largely correct as during four of the seven games in the ALCS, the damage was largely compressed to a bad inning or two on either side. The rest of the time, these teams grappled over a tie or 1-2 run advantage, and those occasions made for some dynamite baseball, which makes this collapse even more frustrating.

While Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd turned in sterling games (particularly the former's gutsy performance last night which kept the Indians well within striking range until his removal at the bottom of the sixth inning), theirs were the only remarkable performances Cleveland would see from their starting rotation. Incredibly, four games of this series were marred by a sickening pitching horror show of epic proportions (the nadir of which arrived during Game 6), as the Tribe's twin 19-game-winning/Cy Young Award-nominated starters imploded to an extent never before seen in baseball playoff history (those performances, from C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona accounted for 3 of the 4 series losses). Making matters worse, the once-humming Indians offense stalled under the merciless curveball of Josh Beckett and never fully recovered. Defense began to misfire all around the horn as what should have been basic fielding exercises were blown at the worst possible times. Finally, the vaunted Indians bullpen began to completely come apart, with Betancourt's unwatchable eighth inning meltdown last night in particular putting the final nails in the coffin.

While credit must be awarded to the Red Sox for never letting up in the face of near-certain doom after Wednesday (they appear to be practiced at this kind of thing, I'm told), the Indians for whatever reason seemed to lose the will to put this series away overnight. I find it almost impossible to believe that one loss after 3 wins in a row could suddenly derail this entire postseason, but that is almost exactly what happened. Though much had been made of the Tribe's run of 1-run victories and losses during July and August serving to "toughen up" the squad and prepare them for the pressure of postseason play, it apparently didn't do enough. What seems likely here (and Sabathia has admitted this was the case as far as we was concerned) is that the rest of the club wanted a title so badly that they played "tight" instead of staying loose: in other words, they were so afraid of screwing up that they lost sight of winning the freakin' games instead, as they had done during the first four games. If that was indeed the case, then what a terrible time they picked to learn such a simple, bitter lesson the hard way.

How striking it is to realize now that a week ago many Tribe fans were thanking their lucky stars that the team had drawn a seven game series with Boston instead of New York (had Cleveland been playing this as a 5-game series, Boston would have been eliminated after Game 4). Perhaps the most ironic revelation of this series: remember how grown men trembled, women fainted and atheists crossed themselves at the idea of Joe Borowski on the mound trying for a save a game in a clinching situation ... and look what happened instead with the man everyone wanted as series closer instead. The realities of the past three days have been a cruel surprise, almost diametrically opposed to reasonable probability ... and that's baseball for ya.

So, Cleveland will have to wait until next year once again. Those of us who let this team into their hearts will be hurting pretty good for a while, but eventually that ache will fade as we focus instead on the wild, joyous ride that the Indians embarked upon in the regular season: outperforming all expectations and having the time of their lives while doing so. Perhaps the new year will bring greater glories, but we'll have to wait a while to find out. This is a young, talented, and refreshingly ego-free club, and I want that particular aspect left unchanged above all else. While some long-suffering fans are now screaming for more payroll and more free-agents on next year's roster, I want this club to remain as homegrown as possible, with a veteran (maybe Lofton again?) or two around to shepherd the youngsters and help keep their heads and emotions in check when it counts the most. Most of all, I hope the 2008 version of this club remembers to bring the magic to the field once again.

Here's to next spring. Cheers.