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.

ALCS Game 6: Boston 12, Cleveland 2

*sigh*

I am getting really tired of using this intro, but here we go again:

At times you may hear me refer to what I call the "the beauty and the horror" of baseball: barring a rain out 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.

This was the most probably disheartening baseball game I've seen since a certain recently-dispatched New York ball club swept a horribly scuffling Tribe in three games back in August. What else can I say? You can look the score and easily guess out how this fiasco went. Who screwed the pooch (and when and how) is immaterial right now ... all that matters is that ALCS Game 7 has been forced, and what was once Cleveland's series to lose two days ago has now become a complete toss-up with one game left to decide who advances to the Fall Classic and who spends a long winter playing golf and wondering what could have been. Unbelievable.

I'll speak frankly here: for the first time since that awful stretch in the weeks after the All-Star Break, my confidence is not high (in fact, I feel pretty sick to my stomach typing this out right now). Even though I don't believe much in things like "momentum" and "karma," it is impossible to not sense the World Series slipping out of Cleveland's grasp. Game 6 represented the Cleveland Indians' last shot at putting the Boston Red Sox away once for all, but instead the fans were witness to a complete disaster on just about every imaginable level of play. Yes, I wrote over a week ago that this series would likely stretch the entire seven games, but being up 3-1 and then falling to pieces afterward is not quite what I'd had in mind when I wrote that.

So, what in the samhell is going on around here? Put simply, the last two weeks have seen the near-complete collapse of half the Indians' starting rotation (as well as a crucial cog in the team's once-impenetrable bullpen), while the last two games have seen large portions of the Tribe offense gone AWOL. While the team has been able to get around the former problem until three days ago, the second issue is now rearing its ugly head at the worst possible time. A few reasons for these events swim to mind:

1. Wear and tear from 200+ innings of work catching up to Fausto Carmona and C.C. Sabathia at last.
2. A horrendous group of umpires, a few of whom enforce a moving strike zone that is apparently shaped like a live amoeba.
3. That lack of all-important "post season experience" I keep hearing about whenever I happen to walk by a TV set broadcasting the game.
4. "The Fix" is on.
5. John Farrell, Boston's pitching coach, was in charge of Indians player development from 2001-2006, which gives him an uncomfortable amount of insight into Indians pitching.
6. A flummoxed God realizes that Cleveland might have actually have a realistic shot at winning the World Series for the first time in 59 years and is hurriedly correcting that little problem.

So, here it comes, Cleveland fans, ready or not. Either tonight's ALCS Game 7 will represent the most cathartic (not to mention miraculous) postseason Indians comeback since the 1997 ALDS or it will be the hardest (and cruellest) punch in the gut this team has suffered since at least the final week of 2005 (if not the end October 1997).

What do you do, Cleveland? What do you do?

ALCS Game 5: Boston 7, Cleveland 1

Well, we finally got our Game 1 pitcher's duel at last ... and while the game itself was different, the end result was pretty much the same, if marginally less humiliating. D'ohhh.

Rather than doing so in enemy territory (as had been the case in 1995 and 1997), the Cleveland Indians wanted to take the American League title in front of a packed house at Jacobs' Field on another unseasonably warm and breezy October evening. Already up 3 games to 1 over the Boston Red Sox, it may have been a bit much to expect a fourth consecutive win against this club, particularly with Josh Beckett on the mound once again. Much as he did in a shortened performance in the series opener, the boyish Texan completely dominated the proceedings: effortlessly sawing down Tribe batters all night long. Really, there really isn't much more to say than that: in Internet parlance, we got ourselves +o+4lly pwn3d.

(Gosh, that intro sounded an awful lot like this one, eh?)

If there was any good news to be had on this night, it was that C.C. Sabathia pitched far better than he did in Game 1 (while still never quite attaining his regular-season form). Until the 7th inning (which is when Boston started to pull away), the beseiged Cleveland ace had only allowed 2 runs to score, using luck and his defense to smash down multiple Red Sox threats. Problem is, when you're facing Beckett, handing him any kind of lead is never a good idea, and a humbled Cleveland offense scored only once in the entire evening when a badly scuffling Travis Hafner knocked in Grady Sizemore while batting into a double play. Barring that lone instance, the night belonged entirely to Beantown.

To the horror of the sold-out crowd, things got worse in the 8th inning. A possibly shell-shocked Rafael Perez, making his first appearance since his Game 2 debacle, couldn't find the strike zone and managed to boost his ALCS ERA even higher into the stratosphere than it already was (holy crap, 45.00!?!?), creating a mess that Game 2 hero Tom Mastny did his best to clean up. By the time that frame had mercifully ended, the contest was well beyond lost. With slightly rusty BoSox closer Jonathan Papelbon showing up in the ninth to finish off the proceedings (and get in an inning of needed work), this game could only have been beautiful to a Red Sox fan.

And so, another travel day follows, with the series moving back to cramped Fenway Park for a Game 2 rematch of Fausto Carmona and Curt Schilling. For the Indians, they can tell everyone that Game 6 isn't a "must-win" situation as much as they like, but for them to allow Boston to force a Game 7 free-for-all is something no one rooting for the Indians wants to see happen. Assuming Carmona can revert to at least a semblance of his season caliber, this series is still well within Cleveland's reach at this moment in time, but the idea of another loss begetting a sudden death toss-up on Sunday night instills more than a glimmer of anxiety in my chest.

Bah, we'll worry about that when and if the time comes. For today, all either side and their millions of fans can do is wait.

ALCS Game 4: Boston 3, Cleveland 7

Wow. For four solid innings tonight, we actually had a real, honest-to-Goat scoreless pitcher's duel going. Then, all hell broke loose ... but we're getting ahead of ourselves ...

Almost from the instant Game 2 of the American League Championship Series finished in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona had found himself in the same spot occupied by Cleveland Indians skipper Eric Wedge a week and change before as the national media (and many in the Red Sox Nation) wondered if he was going to move staff ace Josh Beckett forward in the rotation to face the Tribe on short rest in Game 4, instead of sticking with veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield as originally scheduled. A week earlier, Wedge stuck with Paul Byrd to start Game 4 of the ALDS, ignoring the cries of many who wanted C.C. Sabathia starting in that situation instead, and the Tribe manager's decision paid off as Byrd's Houdini-like performance led the Indians to eliminating the New York Yankees, and served up a heapin' helpin' of crow to everyone who doubted him (including this writer). Ignoring similar protests from the press and the fans, Francona, like Wedge a week before, stuck to his planned rotation.

The problems the doubters have with Wakefield run the gamut from physical issues (he had been sidelined from the ALDS due to nagging back problems and was making his first start in 2 weeks), to his less-than-stellar postseason record, and perhaps most importantly to the unpredictable nature of his specialty: any pitcher specializing in tossing knuckleballs has to basically do a high wire act on the mound in order to keep the opposing team at bay, with weather conditions and skill playing into the effectiveness of the pitch during the course of the game. As Game 4 got started, the weather was definitely on Wakefield's side (breezy, unseasonably warm mid-sixties temperatures with some clammy humidity from rain showers earlier -- perfect for knuckleballs), and his command was devastating.

Then along came the fifth inning and the roof caved in on the Sox in a hurry. "Mountain Man" Casey Blake blasted a pitch onto the Home Run Porch to break the scoreless tie, and it seemed like Wakefield's control seemed to waver afterwards as he then gave up a single to Franklin Gutierrez, hit Kelly Shoppach with a pitch, gave up a fielder's choice to Grady Sizemore, misplayed what should have been a double-play ball by Asdrubal Cabrera (which scored a run) and then gave up a RBI single to Victor Martinez.

With the score now 3-0, Francona lifted Wakefield in an attempt to cease the onslaught, but the Red Sox pitching only continued to melt down as reliever Manny Delcarmen suddenly lost his ability to throw his usually effective curve ball for a strike, giving up a three-run bomb to Cleveland's own Mr. October, followed by a single to Kenny Lofton (who then stole second base), a Blake RBI single and a walk to Gutierrez before finally getting a third out. Throughout Boston's 35-minute ordeal, 12 Indians batted, and 7 touched home plate. Oh my ...

For the Indians, starting Byrd was nowhere near as risky a move in this situation as it seemed to be in New York, but one of the devout veteran's more interesting stats is that is home ERA during the regular season was nearly two points higher than his road total, which seemed to indicate a possible shooting gallery for the Red Sox offense, who had been held to two runs over the previous 14 innings. Said shooting gallery arrived at the top of the sixth, when Byrd (probably feeling the effects of an unplanned half-hour of inactivity) suddenly gave up two consecutive home runs. Wedge, not taking any chances, pulled his starter immediately and replaced him with Jensen Lewis, who allowed yet another Boston home run before settling down and ending the inning.

Once the mid game offensive freak out was over, the rest of the contest was as barren of runs as the first half as the bullpens for both teams clamped down and prevented either side from mounting additional rallies. By the end of the night (on top of two perfect innings from Rafael Betancourt) Cleveland, the underdog coming into the ALCS, now stood atop a reeling Boston by a 3-1 margin.

And so, the postseason continues in two days: with the Red Sox now facing elimination on unfriendly turf unless they can somehow pull off three victories in a row (one more at Jacobs' Field, and then two at Fenway Park), while the Indians need only to win one of the next three games to take the American League pennant. Meanwhile, way out west, the white-hot 2007 National League champion Colorado Rockies are forced to idle for the next week, waiting to find out who they'll be facing in the 2007 World Series.

ALCS Game 3: Boston 2, Cleveland 4

Following two games that seemed like they were being played in The Twilight Zone, Game 3 of the ALCS felt much more like business-as-usual for the Cleveland Indians. Playing before a raucous home town crowd in the friendly expanse of Jacobs' Field for the first time in nearly a week and a half, it was now the Tribe's turn to play series bully, with the Boston Red Sox suddenly becoming the team with starting rotation issues for a change.

We also finally got some semblance of an October pitcher's duel, as Game 3 was far centered on defensive plays than offensive output. Even with their $100 million man Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound, Boston had their hands full with base runners throughout Game 3 as the pesky Tribe kept landing on base via. walks or singles. There was also one particularly memorable moment in the bottom of the second inning as Matsuzaka gave up the first Kenny Lofton home run since the 40-year old veteran returned to the Indians organization at the end of July, and that first-pitch two-run shot energized the Jacobs' Field crowd so much that the fleet-footed right fielder took a curtain call just afterwards.

Matsuzaka's counterpart, sinkerballer Jake Westbrook had it a lot easier overall as he cruised through six innings of scoreless ball with only a no-outs-and-bases-loaded scare in the second inning (and an 0-3 count against Manny Ramirez in the sixth) providing any real drama for the Cleveland defense. Westbrook's shutout bid finally ended in the seventh inning when Westbrook yielded the game's only Boston score when catcher Jason Varitek golfed a two-run homer over the center field wall.

A dominant (and lengthy) performance from the starting rotation was exactly what Cleveland needed following the 13+ ERA combined performance of the staff's aces in Games 1 and 2, and a new found confidence by Tribe fans in the pitching staff was further rewarded by the additional spotless work put in by Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt (who once again pitched directly into the maw of the scariest part of the Red Sox lineup and walked away this time with a perfect inning to show for it), not to mention a 1-2-3 ninth from Joe Borowski. A two run lead may not have felt like an awful lot for jumpy fans ever worrying over the explosive power of the Boston offense ... but on this night at least, it was more than enough.

ALCS Game 2: Boston 6, Cleveland 13

Wow. I have seen some pretty remarkable, even "crazy" ball games over the years, but this one may topped them all.

I think I'd better start by rehashing the same intro I used for Game 1: at times you may hear me refer to what I call the "the beauty and the horror" of baseball: barring a rain out 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. With that said (again), let's talk about Game 2.

Aside from the traditional "come home with a split" situation that any team plays for in a seven-game series, Game 2 of the 2007 American League Championship Series represented, in effect, a "must-win situation" for the Cleveland Indians as falling behind 2-0 to the Boston Red Sox would knock the Tribe into a hole that hardly any team in baseball would be able to climb out of. Beyond that threat, Game 2 would also hinge upon the performance of Fausto Carmona and the crucial, trusted cogs in the Cleveland bullpen against an offense that managed to deliver an early knockout punch to #1 starter C.C. Sabathia the night before. While hopes ran high for the Tribe's boy wonder to carry the day as he so brilliantly had a week before in "The Bug Game," there was also the disquieting thought of what might happen to this series if the Red Sox managed to get to the Indians' #2 starter as well.

Initially, Game 2 started off in a similar fashion as Game 1, with Cleveland coming out of their first half-inning leading the Red Sox by one run. From that point onwards, however, it was a very different game from the previous match: this one was an emotional roller coaster ride for Cleveland fans as the game wound onwards.

Like any roller coaster ride, the game followed a long, menacing climb in tension with a terrifying, steep drop as Carmona started to give up walks and (eventually) runs in the third inning. Scoreless second and fourth innings weren't made any easier to watch as the Sox methodically ratcheted up Carmona's pitch count the same way they did to Sabathia: by sitting there and waiting for strikes they wanted to hit. Clearly rattled, Carmona darted in and around the strike zone (which, in his defense, was apparently amoeba-shaped) rather than knocking Red Sox back away from the plate. By the start of the fifth inning, Carmona had thrown nearly 100 pitches, and despite being ahead 5-3 in the game, was experiencing his worst start in four months.

After allowing the red-hot David Ortiz to reach base yet again, Carmona's evening was over. Fausto's replacement was Rafael Perez, one of the Tribe's premier relievers who had been incredibly effective against the New York Yankees in the ALDS. That success did not repeat against Boston: the next batter in the lineup was the always-dangerous (and currently white-hot) Manny Ramirez who did what he does best a few pitches later and knocked one of Perez's pitches straight into next week, tying the game at 5. A minute later, the score was 6-5 as a solo home run from Mike Lowell whipped the Fenway crowd into a frenzy while fans in Cleveland watched horror struck as one of the most dependable bullpens in baseball coughed up consecutive home runs.

At this point in time, even though the game was still well in reach with Boston only up by a run, it was all one could do not to slip into a state of near-despair: it seemed like every single star pitcher on the Indians staff had lost the ability to throw strikes sometime over the preceding week. Perhaps worse (in the case of Carmona and Sabathia), they appeared to have developed a sudden mistrust in their own abilities, and it was the negative effects of this that the patient Red Sox batters were gleefully exploiting. Both of the team's ace pitchers had been knocked from their respective games in the fifth inning, and seeing the previously-unhittable Perez melt down immediately after that was almost too much to bear.

Almost in spite of this pitching calamity, Cleveland was still very much in this game largely thanks to its offense (primarily Grady Sizemore and Jhonny Peralta) exacting a near-matching toll on Boston's Curt Schilling (whose start had been moved up to create a better match up with Carmona ... funny how that worked out exactly right). The removal of Schilling from the game in the fifth inning was a small victory for the Tribe, and following a sacrifice grounder from Franklin Gutierrez at the top of the sixth, the teams finally deadlocked as the first real pitcher's duel of the series was engaged: but instead of being waged by the well-known starters as everyone had been expecting, this battle was fought by the bullpens.

For four solid innings, this game remained locked in a 6-6 tie as relievers Jensen Lewis and the Herculean Rafael Betancourt held the rampaging Sox offense scoreless while their counterparts (Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin and Jonathan Papelbon) did the same to Tribe hitters. It was a thrilling (if exhausting) stalemate whose highlight was Betancourt stared down (and struck out) damn near the entire Boston lineup in a nerve-wracking, tortoise-paced battle of precision location versus reflexes. This 2.1 inning performance alone provided a ray of hope for Indians fans as Betancourt demonstrated brilliantly that it was indeed possible to keep Boston off the bases when it mattered most.

While Betancourt's performance was dependably masterful, what followed was a complete surprise. With the game still tied at the bottom of the tenth inning and Betancourt no longer an option (having just pitched his longest appearance of the season), Tribe manager Eric Wedge was running out of workable throwing options and decided to send long-relief man Tom Mastny to the mound to face the three biggest killers in the Sox lineup (Ortiz, Ramirez, and Lowell). Until this point, Mastny was seen as an average, slightly walk-prone reliever who lately has been used to eat innings in blowout games when the more valuable pitchers weren't needed, thus this move was the baseball equivalent of the Hail Mary play. To the utter amazement and joy of Tribe fans, the move worked: a ground out and two fly outs later, the inning was over and the game was still tied. Unbelievable.

By the eleventh inning, Boston manager Terry Francona was also running out of viable options, and thus Cleveland was blessed with facing Eric Gagne for the second time in two nights, and promptly started getting men on base as they had against him the previous evening. Francona moved quickly to replace Gagne with sidewinder Javier Lopez after Wedge decided to pinch-hit Trot Nixon (once a beloved Red Sox right fielder), but the Red Sox gamble failed as Nixon punched in a base hit that brought Grady Sizemore across the plate from second, breaking the tie at last.

Then came the collapse: the Indians went on a hitting tear as they eventually pulled six additional runs off the quickly wilting Red Sox at the top of the inning (capped off by a slumping Gutierrez's three-run bomb over the top of the Green Monster). At this point (1:30 AM EST), even a Joe Borowski appearance to close out the game (with, of course, two base runners) was little to worry about. Ballgame.

As the tired teams promptly boarded flights bound for Cleveland and frazzled, but happy fans finally staggered to bed, questions began to swirl over both teams' pitching staffs that will be talked over relentlessly by fans and media until Game 3 kicks off tomorrow night at Jacobs' Field (which will feel like a vast, spacious football arena in comparison to the ridiculously-cramped Fenway Park). Boston now faces uncertainty over their bullpen being strong enough to withstand a prolonged pounding from the Tribe should Game 3 starter Daisuke Matsuzaka fall early (not to mention planned Game 4 starter Tim Wakefield). Meanwhile, Cleveland must figure out what the hell is wrong with Sabathia and Fausto that apparently isn't wrong with Betancourt, Mastny, and closer Joe Borowski, and they need to fix the problem, pronto. Until this happens, fans are left to wonder what might happen when the now-inevitable Game 5 comes along and Sabbathia makes his next scheduled start (or Carmona in a now-hypothetical Game 6).

In the meantime, all hail Tom Mastny and Trot Nixon!

ALCS Game 1: Boston 10, Cleveland 3

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!

Setting The Table: The ALCS

The next-to-last stop in the Cleveland Indians' quest for the World Series will be the toughest challenge faced by the club so far: heading into the venerable, hitter-friendly confines of Fenway Park to face the Boston Red Sox in a 7 game series to determine who will represent the American League in the World Series against the newly-crowned NLCS champion (which should be, barring a startling reversal of momentum, the white-hot Colorado Rockies, who haven't lost a game since, like, July).

The current set-up of the games that will be played:

Fri.., Oct. 12 / Fenway Park / C.C. Sabathia vs. Josh Beckett
Sat., Oct. 13 / Fenway Park/ Fausto Carmona vs. Curt Schilling
Mon., Oct. 15 / Jacobs Field / Jake Westbrook vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka
Tue., Oct. 16 / Jacobs Field / Paul Byrd vs. Tim Wakefield (?)

If necessary (which is almost a foregone conclusion, if you ask me), Game 5 will be played at The Jake, with Games 6 and 7 happening back at Fenway.

As for what to expect ... a lot of great, (hopefully) close games, played with heart and guts by both sides. This will be a bumpy road: even if the Tribe manages to move ahead, there will be losses to endure as the Sox are a tough and worthy opponent: a whole different kettle of fish than the recently-eliminated New York Yankees, in retrospect. While New York's starting pitching weaknesses were glaringly exposed against the Tribe's surging bats, the Red Sox are just as deep in quality arms as Cleveland (perhaps even more so, with the addition of Matsuzaka this year) and they pack a dangerous offense nearly as bruising as the legendary Bronx Bombers (and arguably far more intense at the plate: watch what happens whenever Dustin Predroia or Kevin Youkilis strikes out).

As of this writing, I honestly can't pick a winner for this series. On paper, the Red Sox are a superior ball club to the Indians in nearly every category across the board. That said, the Indians do have a shot as long as the pitching holds up and the offense is capable of exploiting any opportunities that arise (the two-out rally was a very effective weapon against New York last weekend). Basically, a lot of what will win this ALCS will come down to "who benefits the most from the breaks." With a little luck, perhaps, we'll also see two or three of the best (read: most white-knuckle inducing) pitching contests of the year, particularly when Beckett and Schilling are on the mound.

Here we go again ...

ALDS Game 4: Cleveland 6, New York 4

Just about everything went right for the Cleveland Indians tonight, as they erased the New York Yankees for the season (and possibly ended Joe Torre's 11-year tenure as manager) and advanced to the League Championship Series, where far more daunting foes await in the form of the Boston Red Sox and their three-headed dragon pitching combo.


For now, however, the focus is on tonight's victory and we'll take a few moments to celebrate this latest upending of the fabled Yankees mystique. As it turns out, the breaks started running Cleveland's way immediately after the end of Game 3 as Torre announced the Game 4 starter would not be the previously-scheduled Mike Mussina, but instead staff ace Chien-Ming Wang on three days rest. As it turned out, that decision was every bit as disastrous as allowing Roger Clemens to start Game 3, only in this instance, the Yankees ultimately failed to ever take back the lead in the contest as they had the previous night. Mussina picked up the slack as well as he could, but the Cleveland offense, aided and abetted by the familiar likes of Grady Sizemore, The Pronk, and a quietly consistent Jhonny Peralta never let up, even when faced once again with elite closer Mariano Rivera (who damn near gave up a three run homer to Casey Blake at the end of a breathless eighth inning).


Perhaps most importantly for Cleveland's tender nerves, the decision to pitch Paul Byrd instead of C.C. Sabathia on short rest worked out far better than imagined. With that in mind, I'll take this opportunity to publicly offer my apologies to Byrd for doubting him as much as I did last night: his performance this evening was five innings of cunning and grit that kept the Yankees at bay just long enough to hand the game over to the near-bulletproof Indians bullpen (only a solo bomb hit off of Rafael Perez by the likely Most Valuable Player of the American League marred the utter domination of the Yankees offense over the series by Cleveland relievers).


I'll also offer a shaky-handed tip of the cap to much-maligned Tribe closer Joe Borowski, who managed to slam the door in the ninth in his usual style: you know, the one that makes Indians fans clutch at their hearts while fumbling for the Maalox bottle. Seemingly incapable of having a 1-2-3 type of inning, Borowski allowed a solo home run from Bobby Abreu to stop the hearts of the fans back home, allowing the Yankees within two runs, before delivering the final strikeout blow to New York's hopes as the infield and visitor's dugout erupted in celebration.