The Cleveland Indians are just one game away from playing in the 6th World Series in franchise history. The Tribe took a page out of Earl Weaver’s managing book by using his pitching and three run homers approach. Paul Byrd, Jensen Lewis, and Rafael Betancourt provided the pitching and Jhonny Peralta tossed in the three run dinger in a seven run fifth inning to give the Indians a 7-3 victory at Jacobs Field. Byrd kept the Boston bats at bay for five frames until the 35 minute bottom half of the fifth caused him to lose his edge a little and he gave up back to back homers to Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz to start the top of the sixth.
However, Lewis served up another homer to Manny Ramirez (more on that later) before settling down to get through the sixth and seventh, and Betancourt did his usual act in the eighth and ninth to close out Game 4. Casey Blake got the bats going in the fifth with a leadoff blast off Tim Wakefield, who had one hit the Tribe through four innings. Blake completed the post season home run for the Tribe. Every Tribe regular has now hit at least one homer in the playoffs. Peralta belted his second three run shot of the series, and if the Indians win the series, he likely will be named the ALCS MVP.
Even in the seventh run fifth, there were some key plays. First, Wakefield couldn’t handle Asdrubal Cabrera’s shot up the middle, which would have probably been an inning ending double play. It went as an infield hit and an RBI for the rookie second baseman as Franklin Gutierrez scored. Earlier in the at bat, Youkilis dropped a tough foul pop up off Cabrera’s bat. It was ruled no play, but it could have been an error. Gutierrez would have scored on the pop because the Red Sox first baseman had his back to home plate.
Now, let’s get back to Manny. His act following his home run, the third consecutive shot off Tribe pitching in the sixth, will likely earn him one in the ear at some point in the future. Hopefully, no retribution will occur in Game 5, because it is the playoffs, and you don’t want to give the Sox something to rally around. However, his standing for an extended period and watching the ball leave the playing field did not thrill the Indians. Red Sox fans will say it is just “Manny being Manny”, but it was a bush league stunt by a guy who is the greatest right handed hitter I’ve ever seen.
That brings me to the business like approach taken by the Tribe. There are no wild celebrations within the game. In the Yankee series, Johnny Damon did some sort of gorilla like dance after his three run homer in Game 3. Ramirez jumped into the arms of Ortiz after his homer closed the Boston deficit to four runs last night. I might be old school, but there is no need for that stuff. At least Damon’s dinger put the Yankees ahead, but in Manny’s case, he should have ran around the bases and got his butt back in the dugout.
Closing out Boston will not be easy! Remember, many of the players were on the 2004 team that came back from a 3-0 deficit to come back and beat the Yankees. Also, the Tribe now goes against the majors’ only 20 game winner in Josh Beckett on Thursday night. Beckett has proven to be one of the best post season pitchers in recent years. Another guy with a great playoff resume, Curt Schilling, will follow him. The Indians will need good outings from C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona to get the Tribe to the fall classic for the first time since 1997. It’s not over yet.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 