Thoughts on Game 5:

Not much to say about the Indians tonight. They had kept the Red Sox bats pretty cold the last two-and-a-half games. I thought it would be tough to handcuff them again. The Tribe had only six hits. Tough, tough night. The last big threat was in the fifth, after two were out. Then Cabrera whiffed.

















Kevin Youkilis (Youkilis is Yiddish for walk, no?) is the sweatiest baseball player I've seen since the post-drug use Dwight Gooden.

I am such a stupid. In those Wes Anderson commercials for AT&T (like Philawareapragacago), some of the actors are showing up as different characters in other versions. That only took me a month to figure out.

I thought the end result for C.C. Sabathia was OK. Lots of baserunners, but he got out of almost every jam. Very curious that he came out for the seventh though and he departed quickly that inning, allowing two more runs. I'm not really sure why that happened. The fact that Rafael Betancourt was used in the seventh, showed that the Indians were very concerned with how Josh Beckett was pitching, and could not afford to give up any more runs. It worked that inning after C.C. left, but Rafael Perez had a bit of trouble in the eighth with a bad throw on a force out attempt and a great bunt by Julio Lugo to load the bases for his departure. Not a good series for Perez. He has an ERA of 40.50 against Boston.

Beckett had that nose-to-toes curveball working again. His Uncle Charlie is near the top in all of baseball. That looked like a guy who thought that might be the last game he would pitch this year. We couldn't touch him, for the most part. Big time heater, too. Each Indian, except Kenny Lofton, struck out at least once. But Lofton yelled at him, so I guess that was good.


















Boy, did Manny Ramirez have to take the heat from Tim McCarver, of all people, for not running on his touchdown-turned-single. This is becoming a broken record with Fox. Remember Thom Brennamann blasting Manny in the 2003 playoffs against Oakland for the same sort of showboating. i.e. not running? Sure, I'm a Manny apologist, but McCarver had just covered him not running in the previous at-bat. Not running after that long hit really got to McCarver, who quickly went into old-timer "Get off my lawn!" mode. The point is that escapade only mattered if Mike Lowell delivered in his at-bat and he did not. You can debate Sabathia would have pitched Lowell differently with Manny on second, but with two outs, I doubt it. I loved Manny calling a football timeout after the hit. One more thing, Manny sure likes to run sans helmet or cap.

Looks like Indians reliever Tom Mastny woke up.

Ruh roh. It looked like that "Cleveland Face" we are used to seeing in these situations started creeping into the visages of fans and players alike in the eighth inning. Man, was it quiet down there at Jacobs Field this evening.

Franklin Gutierrez? What did he do to get buzzed by Beckett? Given his control throughout, I'm curious about that pitch. Maybe it was because Gutierrez homered off of Beckett in a 1-0 loss back in July. Man, that guy has a long memory.

To win in the ninth, the Indians needed seven. They were the first team in postseason history to score seven twice in the same series. Could it be three? Nah, didn't happen.

Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Does he blink? Ever?

So, it is on to Boston and the rematch of last Saturday in Fenway with Curt Schilling and Fausto Carmona. Let's hope Schill doesn't find a bloody sock and Carmona finds his form again.

Tribe loses, 7-1.

Meal of Links

Today was National Meat Loaf Appreciation Day. I opted out.

Is NBC messing up? Too many complaints about too many of their shows this season.

This is something you don't see very often. David Byrne riding his bike through Manhattan. (In Quick Time).

Exercise Yard

In case you were wondering why Josh Beckett hates Kenny Lofton, they have a history. It was two years ago and involved bat flipping. After that 3-0 pitch in the fifth, you noticed Lofton flipped the bat after a called strike. Beckett does not like that and apparently has an even longer memory than I realized.

Visitor

16 Across: Stutz contemporary (3 letters) Answer: TEXT