League Championship Series Archives

Lance Berkman breaks two ties with one swing of the bat. With the Astros-Giants game tied at seven in the top of the ninth, Lance leads off with a solo shot to put Houston on top 8-7. He also breaks the tie with Chase Utley for the major league lead in home runs. Berkman now leads with 15. Lance is 29 for 50 in May with seven doubles and seven home runs.

The Astros ruined a good start by Tim Lincecum. He struck out 10, but only lasted six innings. Erstad and Lee homered in the eighth to wipe out the Giants lead Erstad's three run shot tying the game at seven. The Astros have 17 home runs in May after hitting 30 in April. If they hold on for the win, they'll be in the wild card seat in the National League.

Paul Hoynes posts the game 7, especially the Skinner hold:

They trailed, 3-2, but Jake Westbrook was hot, and the offense, after two games of doing nothing, was stirring.

Kenny Lofton, with one out in the seventh, lifted a fly ball to short left field against Hideki Okajima. Shortstop Julio Lugo went back but dropped the ball as Lofton hustled into second. Franklin Gutierrez, fouling off two 1-2 pitches, sent a single past third.

It bounced hard off the grandstand in foul territory and back into left field where Manny Ramirez was waiting. Lofton was already at third, and the ball was still rolling in the outfield. The game should have been tied, but third base coach Joel Skinner stopped Lofton.

It was a mistake that will live in Indians postseason history right alongside Orel Hershiser losing his release point in Game 1 of the 1995 World Series.

All the momentum the Indians had been gathering was pointed to that moment. When it produced nothing, the Indians disappeared into the October night not to be seen again until mid-February in Winter Haven, Fla.

"It's a tough corner out there when the ball heads that way," said Tribe manager Eric Wedge. "It's tough to read if it's ricocheting back to the shortstop to left-center. I think it was just tough for him to read."

Having seen the play a few more times, Skinner's mistake was not realizing that Manny Ramirez switched personalities. The brilliant defender who nailed the throw to second base in Lofton's previous at bat went back to the auditioning for the role of Adbul-Jabbar in the remake of Airplane. Manny wasn't hustling after the ball. If Manny is going full steam toward it, holding Lofton was a much better call. But Manny was content to let the run score. Skinner had a split second to make his decision, and it cost the Indians a tie.

Then again, given the way the Red Sox pounded the ball in the eighth, it probably didn't matter.

After the first four games of the ALCS, the Red Sox held a slight lead on the Indians in OBA, .348 to .346. They weren't out-scoring Cleveland, however, due to double plays wiping out some of those base runners. Boston kept hitting into double plays, but over the last three games they put so many men on base that the DPs didn't hurt as much. For the series, the Red Sox posted a .395 OBA to the Indians .302, about a forty five point swing in both directions. With batters constantly reaching, mistakes by the Indians' pitchers turned into big innings and a big comeback for the Red Sox.

Josh Beckett wins the ALCS MVP. He's very humble, mentioning that there are a number of MVPs on the team and giving lots of credit to Varitek as his catcher. Beckett struck out 18 and walked just one in 14 innings, totally dominating the Indians. He'll face Francis in game one. Jeff has defeated two very good pitchers in the first two rounds, but he'll have his work cut out for him in game one of the World Series.

The Boston Red Sox win 11-2 and are going to the World Series. Pedroia and Youkilis hit big tonight, combining to go six for ten with seven RBI and five runs scored. They each doubled and homered. The top four hitters in the Red Sox lineup each posted OBAs over .400 and slugging percentage over .500 in the series.

The bullpen pitched four shutout innings giving up four hits but no walks. Matsuzaka gets the win, making two nations happy today. Teams down 3-1 forcing a seventh game are now 11-4. The Red Sox accomplished the feat this year by outscoring the Indians 30-5 over the last three games. Six of the seven contests in the series were decided by four runs or more, although game two and seven were close until the end.

It was a great series, with both teams looking unbeatable at times. I have a lot of sympathy for the Indians, I would have loved to see them end their World Championship drought. However, we have the top team in each league in run differential meeting in the World Series. It should be a good one. Congratulations to the Red Sox on a great comeback and winning the AL pennant!

The Cleveland season needs a miracle. Peralta, Lofton, and Gutierrez try to get something going.

Update: Peralta floats one into left for a single. They need a lot more of those.

Update: Lofton lines to left, where Ellsbury makes a nice sliding catch.

Update: Gutierrez flies out to center, then Blake hits one deep to the triangle, and Crisp makes a great catch to end the game. The Red Sox are going to the World Series!

Update: Crisp slammed into the wall, and limps off the field. Making the catch was more than worth the pain, I bet.

J.D. Drew follows a Lowell double with a hard single to center. Lowell scores the sixth run of the game for Boston extending the lead to four.

Drew and Matsuzaka each did a good job of saving their reputations the last two games.

So if the Red Sox hold on, do you give the MVP to Youkilis or Beckett?

Update: The Indians are falling apart here as Blake and Peralta go for a pop up down the leftfield line. The collide, and the ball lands fair. It bounces into the seats for a double, and Ellsbury is intentionally walked. The bases are loaded for Lugo.

Update: Lugo strikes out. Home Run Pedroia is up next.

Update: Pedroia finds the gap in left center and clears the bases with a double. Betancourt picks a bad night to fall apart on the mound, and the probability of the Red Sox winning this game just skyrocketted.

Update: Lewis comes in, and Youkilis hits one off the coke bottles above the monster seats. That's the third hit of the night for Kevin, and he's hitting .500 for the series with a .929 slugging percentage. It's 11-2 Boston.

Update: Ortiz strikes out. Papelbon needs to get three outs before he allows nine runs.

Okajima starts his third inning of work, and Sizemore bunts for a base hit to start the eighth.

Update: Cabrera lines one up the middle to put runners at first and second. Papelbon is coming on to try to get the first six out save of his career.

Update: Hafner has no chance as he swings at three pitches and misses two, including the third one.

Update: Martinez hits what should be a double play ball to second, but both Pedroia and Lugo can't get a handle on the ball, and they just get the runner at second. First and third with two out for Garko.

Update: Papelbon gets ahead of Garko 1-2, but then Ryan drives the next pitch to deep center. Ellsbury runs it down, for the third out and the Indians threat goes by the boards, as does the heart of the Cleveland lineup. The Red Sox are three outs away from the World Series.

Betancourt relievers Westbrook to start the bottom of the seventh. Westbrook pitched a good game, keeping the Indians in the contest. Now it's up to the bullpen and the offense to win the pennant.

Update: A bad two batters for Blake as he follows up the double play with an error to put Ellsbury at second with no one out.

Update: Dustin the wind as Pedroia smacks a ball into the monster seats for a 5-2 Boston lead. The Red Sox capitalize on an error when the Indians could not.

Update: Those are the first runs Betancourt allowed in the post season.

Update: That's all the Red Sox get, but it may be enough as Cleveland is down to six outs to score three runs.

The Red Sox make their first fielding mistake of the night. Lugo goes back into left on a pop up, calls off Ramirez, then drops the ball. Lofton winds up at second, the tying run.

Update: Gutierrez lines one right over the third base bag for a hit. Skinner holds up Lofton at third, thinking the carom off the wall was going right to Manny. Okajima then induces Blake to hit into a 5-4-3 GDP to end the inning. It's the first time they've retired Blake tonight. A bad call by an ump cost the Indians a run the last time Lofton was up, and now a conservative call by the third base coach may have done the same. I don't think you can fault Skinner too, much, however. That was a tough one to call.

For the second inning in a row, Westbrook retires the side in order, striking out two. He only struck out one over the first four innings.

Okajima relieves Matsuzaka to start the sixth. Dice-K threw 88 pitches, 62 for strikes. After starting off efficient through the first two innings, the Indians did a better job of battling him over Daisuke's last three. He is in line to get the win.

Update: Okajima retires the side in order, getting two fly outs and a grounder.

Westbrook pitches his best inning of the night in the fifth, retiring the side in order for the first time. He struck out both Youkilis and Ramirez, his second and third Ks of the game.

Kenny Lofton smacks one off the leftfield wall leading off the fifth, and Manny plays the ball perfectly, throws a strike to second, and Lofton is called out. Unfortunately, it looks like Pedroia tagged the bag and not the runner, but Lofton didn't argue the play. It may have cost them a run as Gutierrez follows with a single. A very nice play by Manny, however.

Update: Blake gets another hit, and the bad call at second looms large. Matsuzaka faces Sizemore with two on.

Update: Sizemore hits a ball deep to center for a sacrifice fly. That makes the score 3-2 in favor of Boston. A close game again.

Update: Cabrera battle Matsuzaka, fouling off a number of pitches, but Dice-K wins as a swing and a miss end the inning. The 2-4 hitters for Boston are due up in the bottom of the inning.

Jake Westbrook has been a very frustrating pitcher for the Red Sox in this series. He just induced his sixth double play, the fifth with runners in scoring position. For the fourth inning in a row, the leadoff batter reached, but for the first time he doesn't allow a run. The Red Sox picked up nine hits in four innings, but only three runs.

Travis Hafner goes the other way and bangs a ball off the wall for a double. He's in scoring position with one out in the fourth and Victor Martinez up.

Update: Man, Martinez is slow. He hits one off Matsuzaka's glove, and Dice-K has forever to throw him out at first. Hafner is unable to advance.

Update: Garko battles Matsuzaka and Garko finally delivers an RBI double off the wall in left center. He stayed alive long enough for Matsuzaka to make a mistake, and Ryan crushed it. It's 3-1 Boston.

Update: Peralta grounds out to end the inning, but the Indians are on the board. Now then need to put a zero on the board in the bottom of the fourth.

Youkilis doubles, then scores on a ground out and a sacrifice fly. Westbrook gave up seven hits through three innings. I appreciate that he's not pitching terribly, but at this rate the Indians are going to lose 9-0. Cleveland might want to try the no-runs strategy in the fourth.

Casey Blake, the best hitter for Cleveland during the LCS, singles in the third with two out. But Matsuzaka picks up his second strikeout of the night against Sizemore to end the inning. The Indians are only one for eight putting the ball in play. They did work Daisuke more in that inning, getting his pitch count up to 44.

The Indians seem to be employing a one-run strategy on defense. The Red Sox get a double from Varitek and a single from Ellsbury, but Lugo hits into another rally killing double play. With none out, however, the Red Sox score a run. With six hits in two innings, you might expect the Indians to be in a bigger hole. Now it's up to the Cleveland offense to take the opportunity given by the defense.

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw just eight pitches in the second inning as he continues to work efficiently. Six up, six down through two innings for Cleveland.

David Ortiz is up with two on after two singles. He should bunt here because it's obviously going to be a close game. :-)

Update: Ortiz doesn't even square up, and Westbrook gets him to swing and miss at two pitches on his hands. One out for Ramirez.

Update: Ramirez hits a hard grounder right at Peralta, but the ball takes a giant hop when it hits the lip of the infield and goes over Jhonny's head. Pedroia scores from second and the Red Sox lead 1-0. They are 3 for 3 putting the ball in play tonight.

Update: Make it four for four as Lowell lines a single into left to load the bases for J.D. Drew.

Update: Another rally killer double play as Drew bounces the ball up the middle to Peralta. Interestingly, Westbrook got the two lefties he faced, but the four righties each collected a hit. During the regular season, lefties hit Westbrook better than righties.

Dice-K pitches a good first inning, getting the obligatory strikeout from Hafner. He also only used 13 pitches.

The pre-game show just pointed out that the closers haven't had a big role in this series. Since five of the six games were won by four runs or more, there's been almost no need for the saver to come in. Which is why when people ask me about the importance of a closer, I tell them it's more important to generate a big lead.

The sun won't come out tomorrow for one of these teams. The season for the Indians and Red Sox comes down to a warm night in Boston with their number three starters on the mound. Can Daisuke deliver? Can Westbrook's sinker sink the Sox? Will Wedge or Francona make a strategic blunder that turns victory into defeat? Will Pronk poke? Will Manny be Manny?

Westbrook handled the Red Sox much better than the Yankees. He didn't walk a batter in his start against New York, but the Yankees pounded the balls he put in the strike zone. Jake didn't try to be quite as fine against the Red Sox, walking three. Boston picked up hits against Jake, but by keeping the ball on the ground he induced three double plays, two of them with men in scoring position. The Red Sox need to try to get Westbrook to elevate his sinker so the Sox can hit line drives instead of ground balls.

The Red Sox committed to $100 million dollars too bring Matsuzaka to the United States, and the eyes of two nations are on him tonight. Red Sox Nation hopes to his first two post-season starts turn out to be flukes. There's nothing on Dice-K in the English language Japanese news yet. The big difference between Matsuzaka in the playoffs and during the regular season is his hits allowed. He held opponents to a .246 BA in the regular season, but they've hit .317 against him so far in the post season.

These finished the regular season even in wins, and the difference in the post season is Cleveland's one loss to the Yankees. The series so far saw big score differences in each game except the one pitched by these two starters. Westbrook and Matsuzaka approach the game differently, but they are evenly matched as well. I'm hoping for a close contest to end the AL season.

Enjoy!

In terms of strikeouts and reaching base on balls in play, the series between the Indians and Red Sox is going as predicted:

American League Championship Series, 2007

	Indians	Red Sox
AB + SF	211	211
Home Runs	8	8
Strikeouts	59	36
Fieldable Balls in Play	144	167
BABIP	.306	.323

Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) is defined as (Hits-HR)/(AB-(HR+K)) and gives a quick and dirty approximation of 1-DER. The Red Sox collected ten more hits in the series due to striking out less and playing better defense. Combined with thirteen more walks, Boston leads Cleveland in runs scored 40-30. However, Boston held the BABIP advantage through the first four games as well. Bad timing and double plays kept them from winning in three of those games.

Both managers talked a good game after Boston's game six victory:

"It just has to stop and it has to stop tonight," said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge. "They need to go to bed tonight with a clear head and think good thoughts. They have experienced a lot. It's another step for us, but it's not completely unchartered. We handle these things pretty well."

"We're excited," said Sox manager Terry Francona. "We'd be crazy not to be excited to have a Game 7 at Fenway. We get to play. I'm glad we're playing at home. As far as the game goes, the momentum will be with both starting pitchers. What happened tonight won't dictate tomorrow."

When I looked at this series I thought the Red Sox and Indians would split the matchups between the 1-2 starters, then take two out of three from Westbrook and Byrd. Boston's handled the Sabathia-Carmona combination just fine, but has yet to beat the 3-4 starters as they face Westbrook tonight.

Curt Schilling was certainly the man tonight. He pitched seven great innings, picking up five strikeouts without walking a batter. He also rested the bullpen for tomorrow as only Lopez and Gagne pitched in relief.

Drew, of course, fixed his reputation with the team. As Bill James said to us at the end of last Saturday's game, "the crowd was so tired, they forgot to boo J.D. Drew." They remembered to cheer his tonight.

Kudos to Aaron Laffey on the Cleveland side for saving their bullpen. He pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings in his first appearance of the post season. He allowed just one hit and one walk.

Travis Hafner's offensive woes continue, as his 0 for 4 night reduced his batting average in the LCS to .130.

The team go into game 7 with a fairly even pitching matchup. I have a hard time believing that Jake Westbrook can fool the Red Sox hitters twice. However, Matsuzaka hasn't been over powering in the post season either. The series could easily come down to which bullpen pitches better, including Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield and C.C.Sabathia. It should be exciting.

Correction: It was Lopez used in relief.

A Cleveland comeback is possible! Eric Gagne is in the game!

Update: Hafner gets his bat on the ball, but flies to center for the first out.

Update: Martinez grounds back to the box for the second out.

Update: Lowell shows some flair, bare-handing a grounder and throwing Garko out at first. We're getting a game seven.

Manny Ramirez drives in Kevin Youkilis with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 11-2 in favor of Boston. That's nine RBI for Manny in the series.

Update: Lowell singles in a run, his seventh RBI of the series. A Cleveland comeback in this game is starting to look impossible.

Update: That's it for Boston. The Indians have three outs to get ten runs.

Garko triples leading off the seventh and scores on a sacrifice fly. Garko's having a good series, hitting .316 with a .474 slugging percentage.

Update: That's all they get in the seventh, and Schilling tips his hat to the crowd as he reaches the dugout. He walks none and strikes out five through seven innings. The Indians were 6 for 21 on balls in play, 5 for 20 on fieldable balls. The Red Sox defense played very well behind Schilling tonight.

Schilling strikes out Hafner for the second time tonight and the tenth time in the series. He swung at an eye level pitch that was also off the plate. He looks totally lost up there. He's been a huge offensive hole in the third spot for Cleveland, batting .136 with a .208 OBA.

Carmona just walked Ramirez and Lowell to bring up Drew with men on base again. Carmona has walked four so far tonight, and he's only in the third inning.

Update: Drew grounds a single into centerfield, extending the Red Sox lead to 5-1. That's it for Carmona as he leaves with no one out in the third and men on first and second. The two big guns for the Indians come up short in both their LCS starts.

Update: Ellsbury delivers a single against Perez and the Red Sox lead 6-1.

Update: Lugo doubles in two as the game moves into rout territory.

Update: It's gone from rout to Keystone Cops. Youkilis finally gets a ball out of the infield, banging one hard off the Green Monster. He gets in a run down between first and second. Carmona chases Kevin back toward first, then makes a throw that hits Kevin in the head and gets by the first baseman. Youkilis is safe, Pedroia scores, and the Red Sox lead 10-1. The WBC mercy rule will get invoked soon.

Update: Laffey finally gets the Indians out of the inning. But their nine run deficit is no laughing matter.

Pedroia goes long, hitting the wall for a double and Youkilis picks up his second infield hit of the night. But Ortiz grounds hard into a double play. The Red Sox set a record for DPs in an LCS with eleven. It's also their seventh rally killing double play, one with men in scoring position.

Victor Martinez leads off the second inning with a home run. That's his first home run of the LCS and the second of the playoffs. When Schilling pitcher for Arizona, he tended to give up a good number of home runs, but because he kept the bases empty, they tended to be solo shots. The Red Sox will gladly give up solo home runs as long as they hit theirs with runners on. Consider it revenge for game four.

The Red Sox are playing the short game, putting two men on without getting the ball out of the infield. Ortiz is up with men on first and second after two infield hits.

Update: Ortiz walks to load the bases. Manny must have cleaned his helmet a bit, since I can make out the B under all the pine tar.

Update: Nice job by Carmona, getting Manny to swing over a pitch low on the inside corner. One out.

Update: Lowell flies to shallow right on the first pitch, Pedrioa can't score. Two out.

Update: J.D. Drew just redeemed his season. Carmona fell behind 3-1, then Drew got all of a pitch down the middle of the plate, low enough that he could get a good upper cut on it. It was a laser into the camera well in centerfield, a grand slam to put the Red Sox up 4-0. Those are Drew's first RBI of the LCS.

Update: After a Varitek walk, Ellsbury grounds out to end the inning. Carmona was wild in the inning. On the other hand, he induced two ground balls to start the inning that his defense failed to turn into outs. In that sense, he did his job, the grounders were just well placed.

Curt Schilling records two ground outs and a strikeout as he retires the Indians in order in the first. Hafner strikes out for the ninth time in twenty LCS at bats.

Jacoby Ellsbury starts over Coco Crisp tonight for the Red Sox.

The Indians and Red Sox return to Fenway Park tonight for game six of the ALCS. In their last game at Fenway, with the same Carmona/Schilling matchup, the teams took 5 1/4 hours to play eleven innings. Get a pot of coffee on if you're going to watch the game tonight.

If Fausto Carmona starts, the game goes eleven innings. He pitched brilliantly against the Yankees, going nine innings but getting more support from the Canadian Soldiers than the Cleveland offense. The Red Sox, however, approached Fausto with selectivity, drawing five walks in just four innings, negating Carmona's five strikeouts over that period. In both cases, however, Cleveland pulled out the victory in extra innings.

Like Carmona, Schilling pitched much better in the ALDS than in his ALCS start. He shut out the Angels for seven innings, giving up just six hits and one walk. But in 4 2/3 innings against Cleveland, he allowed nine hits, including two home runs. Since his ability to strike out batters diminished this season, Curt survives by making good pitches in the strike zone. The Indians are getting a lot of hits on their balls in play this series, so that's a bad sign for Curt.

The teams are even at 28 run scored apiece over the first five games. Cleveland, however, hasn't received much production from their designated hitter, Travis Hafner. Compare his numbers to David Ortiz in the series so far:

2007 ALCS

Stat	Ortiz	Hafner
Batting Average	.400	.158
On-Base Average	.522	.238
Slugging Average	.733	.316

Hafner's also struck out eight times, while Papi's only gone down on strikes twice. If Travis hit close to his norms in this series, it might be over by now.

Enjoy!

Correction: Fixed the table headers.

My latest Sporting News column is online. It discusses the reasons the Rockies pulled off a sweep of the Diamondbacks.

Steve Keating in the Boston Globe pretty much ignores Manny's lack of hustle in game five. He plays up his accomplishments in the game:

Tied 1-1 in the third inning, Ramirez looked to blow open the contest when he connected on what appeared to be his fifth home run of the post-season.

But as he trotted to first base the ball dropped on top of the centre field wall and bounced fair holding the Boston slugger to a single, scoring David Ortiz.

Steve Buckley in the Herald mentions it with the right tone:

If you watched all of last night's game, you saw Coco Crisp [stats] fail to drop down a sacrifice bunt when the Sox really could have used one. You saw shortstop Julio Lugo [stats] trespass in front of second baseman Dustin Pedroia [stats] while pursuing a grounder up the middle, turning an out into a single. And, yes, you saw Manny Ramirez do some of his really cool home run stylin', except that he made a fool of himself when the ball inconveniently did not leave the park.

Once again, Manny gets a pass. I can't think of another player, especially a superstar, who is allowed to goof up like that. I remember Gil Hodges walking out to leftfield to remove Cleon Jones from a game after he didn't hustle. That lesson sunk in. I know Francona takes care of these things in the clubhouse, but that hasn't solved the problem. Maybe nothing can.

Josh Beckett pitched his third strong game of the post season. His ERA for his three starts stands at a Gibson like 1.17. On the offensive side, the Red Sox doubled the number of Cleveland hits, out-walked them 5-2, and slugged five extra-base hits to the Indians two. C.C. Sabathia had his control, but the Red Sox turned his pitches in the strike zone into hits. Now the series goes back to Boston for game six with Schilling vs. Carmona. We're finally seeing a competitive series this post season.

Jon Papelbon comes out to pitch the ninth for Boston.

Update: With one out, Garko doubles. The Indians are going to need a few more of those big hits to get back in this game.

Update: Peralta grounds out, moving Garko to third. It's up to Lofton to keep hope alive in this game.

Update: Lofton walks, bringing Gutierrez to the plate.

Update: Gutierrez hits one deep to center, but Crisp tracks it down and Boston wins 7-1.

Beckett finishes the eighth inning, picking up his eleventh strikeout of the game. That gives him a 26/1 K/BB ratio for the post season. Not bad.

The Red Sox load the bases against Perez in the top of the eighth. The top of the Red Sox line now faces Tom Mastny with one out and a chance to blow the game open.

Update: A passed ball by Martinez moves the runners up a base and makes the score 5-1 in favor of the Red Sox.

Update: Pedrioa walks to load the bases again.

Update: Youkilis walks in a run and Ortiz hits a sacrifice fly to make it 7-1 Boston. The Cleveland bullpen is having a rare bad inning.

After the war of words in his last at bat, Lofton grounds a ball back to the mound that goes through Beckett's legs for an error. That probably makes Lofton feel a bit better.

Update: Lofton is the only runner to reach in the inning as Beckett records his tenth strikeout. That's twenty five strikeouts for Beckett in twenty two post-season innings. He's also gotten the Red Sox through seven innings, meaning Boston doesn't need to deal with any of their second line relievers tonight.

C.C. starts the seventh and gives up a double and a triple to Pedroia and Youkilis respectively. That puts the Red Sox up 3-1. Sizemore almost got to Youk's hit, but it ticks off his glove. Sizemore looked for Gutierrez, which slowed him down enough that he doesn't make the catch. C.C. comes out of the game after 112 pitches, but two batters too late.

Update: Betancourt allows Ortiz to hit a long sacrifice fly for a 4-1 Boston lead.

On a 3-0 count, Beckett throws a strike to Lofton, who drops his bat trying to draw a ball call. On the next pitch, Lofton flies out, and Beckett yells something Kenny's way. As Lofton trots toward first, he's saying something to Josh. After reaching first and being called out on the catch, Lofton starts across the infield, and comes close to an altercation. The benches empty, but the umps control the situation and nothing much happens.

Update: With two outs, the Indians pick up two singles to put runners at first and third. The second one, by Sizemore, was as perfectly placed as you can put an infield hit, just over the glove of Beckett and too close to second base for either Pedroia or Lugo to make a play. Beckett, however, strikes out Cabrera to end the inning. That's seven Ks for Beckett on the evening, he's thrown 67 pitches through five. He's worked efficiently throughout the playoffs.

The Red Sox load the bases in the fifth on a single, walk and hit by pitch. But Sabathia gets his nemesis, Bobby Kielty to fly out to right to end the inning. C.C. is up to 93 pitches, meaning the Cleveland bullpen is going to get in the game soon.

We may have just seen the last start by Coco Crisp for the Red Sox. Kielty and Varitek singled to start the fourth. Francona asked Crisp to bunt, but Coco twice bunts foul, then strikes out. Lugo then hits into a rally killing double play to end the inning. At this point, I can't think of a reason to play Crisp over Ellsbury.

After the Red Sox hit into their ninth double play of the series, Ortiz walks and Ramirez hits what appears to be a home run off the top of the wall in right center. Manny doesn't run, thinking the ball is gone, but it's so close the ball bounces back on the field and the umpires call it in play. Ortiz scores from first, but the lolly-gagging Ramirez ends up at first with a single. Manny watched the ball rather than run it out. Of course, it's not the end of the world if the Red Sox lose.

Lowell strikes out, so it doesn't make a lot of difference.

Update: According to the broadcast, if the ball hits the yellow line, it's not a home run. The yellow line is part of the wall, separate from the shelf behind. It sure is tough to tell from the replay, but the ump probably made a good call. All the more reason to be upset at Manny for not hustling.

Maybe someday they'll remake Airplane with Manny taking on the Abdul-Jabbar role. :-)

With two out in the bottom of the second, Gutierrez draws a walk. That's the first free pass Beckett issued this post season.

Update: Beckett strikes out Blake to end the inning, giving him two in the second and three for the game, just like Sabathia.

Through two innings, Sabathia looks more like his old self. He's struck out three without issuing a walk, although he did hit a batter. He's thrown 21 of his 33 pitches for strikes so far.

Sizemore leads off the bottom of the first with a double, Cabrera singles to send him to third, then for a change the Indians hit into a rally killing double play as Hafner plates Sizemore. That ties the game at one, but the chance of a big inning goes way down. That's only the third DP Cleveland hit into during the series, and the first with runners in scoring position.

Update: The Indians get another single, but that's it as they end the first inning tied at one.

After getting Pedroia to ground out, Sabathia falls behind Youkilis 1-0, and Kevin hammers the first pitch in the strike zone over the leftfield wall for a 1-0 Boston lead.

Update: Manny Ramirez gets thrown out at the plate to end the first. Gutierrez makes a nice throw on a single by Lowell to right.

Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia meet for the second time in the series as the Red Sox face elimination from the playoffs tonight in Cleveland. Sabathia tries to bring back his control in game five. He's walked eleven in 9 1/3 innings in the post season after walking just thirty seven in 241 regular season innings. How is C.C. dealing with this?

Sabathia said he's confident he will have better command tonight. "I went down to the bullpen and worked on trying to stay taller and throw the ball downhill, something I didn't do in Boston, and had a pretty good bullpen," he said. "So I'm looking forward to being my normal self."

The other problem with Sabathia this post season are balls in play. He's struck out eight and hit a batter, so twenty eight batters put the ball in play against C.C. and eleven of those ended up hits. Overall twenty three of forty eight batters earned their way on against Sabathia.

There were some worries about Josh Beckett's back, but he's reported to be fine:

Beckett, 27, threw just 80 pitches in the 10-3 victory in Game 1, leaving after the Red Sox scored two runs in a long bottom of the sixth on a cold, windy night at Fenway Park. The Indians made two pitching changes in that half-inning.

"It was more the conditions of the game," pitching coach John Farrell said. "It was more precautionary than anything. Both in consultation with [Beckett] and Tito, Tito felt it was prudent to remove him after the sixth.

"He was fine. His bullpen two days ago was strong as others during the season. There's no restrictions of any kind going into [tonight]. No issue. This is not an issue."

Red Sox fans hope so. Unlike Sabathia, Beckett hasn't issued a walk in fifteen post-season innings while striking out fifteen. This has allowed him to be very efficient, throwing 188 pitches, just 12.5 per inning. The bullpen becomes less of a worry when you don't need them until the eighth or ninth inning.

Enjoy!

A good article in the Boston Herald talks about how the Red Sox pitching staff adjusted in 2004 to throw off the Yankees hitters, and how the Red Sox hitters in 2007 failed to adjust to Westbrook and Byrd.

Red Sox hitters thought Sabathia seemed to be pitching a bit backward, going away from his usual ploy of trying to get an outside fastball strike on the first pitch. Instead, he was relying more on breaking stuff, which was one of the potential reasons for just 13 strikes in 24 first pitches.

Carmona was even worse when it came to getting ahead, landing just seven of his first pitches for strikes. And don't think the Red Sox didn't take notice, swinging at just one of the starter's initial offerings.

Unfortunately for them, the next two Cleveland starters didn't follow suit.

Murray Chass writes about his cousins, sisters divided by the ALCS:

The sisters were raised as Indians fans, but Linda went away to college, never returned to Cleveland and landed in Boston, where immigrants are brainwashed into being Red Sox fans. Bonnie also went away to college, but she returned home to reaffirm her undying loyalty to the Indians.

"This is all my dad's fault," Bonnie said. "When he had two girls first and thought he might not have a son, he passed down his love of baseball to us. He would take us to doubleheaders on Sundays and play catch with us in the driveway, but I don't think he ever thought it would turn out to be the feud it is today."

Mort Klein, their father, acknowledged his role. "I re