Let's not forget success of season for Tribe
Indians' win in ALCS just not meant to be
Published on Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007
BOSTON: The doorman at the Courtyard just off Boston Common heard I was heading back to Cleveland. He yelled down the street to have me stop.
''Hey now,'' he said. ''I tell you what. That team of yours has a bunch of great young players. They'll be back.''
He's right, of course.
Any team that wins 96 games and comes within a win of the World Series has had an outstanding season. And when that team has its core of players back the following year, it must be considered a favorite, especially if you figure General Manager Mark Shapiro continues his magic and improves the team in the offseason.
But these are Cleveland teams, after all, and it's so easy to forget next year for another day and wallow in the mire of what-could-have-beens in this year.
Add them all up it's not as difficult as adding up the runs the Indians gave up in the final three games and it's evident winning the American League Championship Series was not meant to happen.
Start with C.C. Sabathia failing to win Game 5 at home. Continue with Grady Sizemore's leadoff home run in Game 6 being called foul. Or the home-plate umpire squeezing Fausto Carmona. Or J.D. Drew's grand slam, the Boston Red Sox's version of Bucky Dent's hit from nowhere.
Go to the first inning of Game 7. Jhonny Peralta had Manny Ramirez's hard grounder lined up for a double play. Except the ball hit the lip of the infield and bounced over Peralta's head.
That's how the Red Sox got their first run, on a bad-hop double-play ball.
Then there's Kenny Lofton, the guy the fans wanted so badly to be the star.
Twice, things were lined up for that to happen.
But Lofton was called out at second in the fifth inning on a ball he hit off the wall. He sure looked safe. He said he was safe. For some reason, an umpire a couple of feet away staring right at the play said he wasn't.
Then Lofton was at second in the seventh thanks to a dropped popup by the immortal Julio Lugo, Boston's $9 million shortstop. Franklin Gutierrez grounded one over the bag at third, and third-base coach Joel Skinner held Lofton because of the quirkiness of Fenway Park.
Skinner said after the game that he's watching the shortstop because he's well aware a carom in the left-field corner can go back toward the infield. When Skinner saw the immortal one, the $9 million shortstop, go out to left, he held Lofton.
Yes, he should have sent him home.
Odds were good the game would have been tied.
Manny Ramirez might not have even thrown home.
This Indians moment was Brian Sipe at old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland seeing the safety take a jab step to Dave Logan and Sipe throwing to Ozzie Newsome with the ball winding up in the hands of safety Mike Davis, a guy who couldn't catch a cold at any other time in his career.
Skinner looked at the shortstop and held Lofton. The ball rolled into the outfield.
Instead of being the spark plug who ran the Indians into a tie, Lofton was the sad figure who talked about what could have been.
Then there was Ryan Garko, who hit a blast to center field in the eighth with two on.
This ball was tagged, but it was tagged to the wrong part of the park, and Brook Jacoby Ellsbury was able to track it down.
Ten feet to the right, and the game is tied.
Then there's Casey Blake, who sent a blast to a similar spot in center field for the game's final out except deeper. Coco Crisp ran it down, which led Jonathan Papelbon to throw his glove in the air.
What you wondered with Blake's blast was where it was in the seventh, when he swung at the first pitch and hit into an inning-ending double play with Lofton on third.
A fly ball there scores a run, and the game is tied. Blake, one of the most patient hitters on the team, swung at the first pitch against a guy who was close to being rattled. End of inning.
So it goes with Cleveland sports teams.
They say there's no crying in baseball, but the World Series of 1997 proved there is no God, either. Not with Craig Counsel and Edgar Renteria coming up with crushing hits and runs.
This series, when the Indians were ahead 3-1 and playing at home to go to the World Series, confirms that absence of a higher power.
This doorman at the Courtyard didn't know that when he continued speaking.
''Those guys are young, and now they've been through it,'' he said. ''They'll know how to handle it next time and they'll do better.''
Once again, from a doorman comes wisdom.
Experience will help the Indians and maybe the pitchers won't give up 30 runs the last three games of a series.
By any objective measure this was a successful season, one to remember and of which to be proud. Let's not forget that these Indians were not predicted by many to win the AL Central.
Had someone lined any of us up in April and said, ''You'll beat the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series, then take the Red Sox to seven in the ALCS,'' most of us would have been happy.
So while we lament the things that could have been, let's still try to take a step back and appreciate a season that was special.
And try not to think that with a few breaks, it could have been a little bit more special.
In the late hours of a New England evening Sunday, fans who jammed the city's public transportation system were high-fiving each other. Riders on the MBTA sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game and airport shuttle buses Monday morning had ''Go Sox'' on the scroll.
Someday, somehow, some way those kind of things will happen in Cleveland.
It might happen with this team and this group of players.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
BOSTON: The doorman at the Courtyard just off Boston Common heard I was heading back to Cleveland. He yelled down the street to have me stop.
''Hey now,'' he said. ''I tell you what. That team of yours has a bunch of great young players. They'll be back.''
He's right, of course.
Any team that wins 96 games and comes within a win of the World Series has had an outstanding season. And when that team has its core of players back the following year, it must be considered a favorite, especially if you figure General Manager Mark Shapiro continues his magic and improves the team in the offseason.
But these are Cleveland teams, after all, and it's so easy to forget next year for another day and wallow in the mire of what-could-have-beens in this year.
Add them all up it's not as difficult as adding up the runs the Indians gave up in the final three games and it's evident winning the American League Championship Series was not meant to happen.
Start with C.C. Sabathia failing to win Game 5 at home. Continue with Grady Sizemore's leadoff home run in Game 6 being called foul. Or the home-plate umpire squeezing Fausto Carmona. Or J.D. Drew's grand slam, the Boston Red Sox's version of Bucky Dent's hit from nowhere.
Go to the first inning of Game 7. Jhonny Peralta had Manny Ramirez's hard grounder lined up for a double play. Except the ball hit the lip of the infield and bounced over Peralta's head.
That's how the Red Sox got their first run, on a bad-hop double-play ball.
Then there's Kenny Lofton, the guy the fans wanted so badly to be the star.
Twice, things were lined up for that to happen.
But Lofton was called out at second in the fifth inning on a ball he hit off the wall. He sure looked safe. He said he was safe. For some reason, an umpire a couple of feet away staring right at the play said he wasn't.
Then Lofton was at second in the seventh thanks to a dropped popup by the immortal Julio Lugo, Boston's $9 million shortstop. Franklin Gutierrez grounded one over the bag at third, and third-base coach Joel Skinner held Lofton because of the quirkiness of Fenway Park.
Skinner said after the game that he's watching the shortstop because he's well aware a carom in the left-field corner can go back toward the infield. When Skinner saw the immortal one, the $9 million shortstop, go out to left, he held Lofton.
Yes, he should have sent him home.
Odds were good the game would have been tied.
Manny Ramirez might not have even thrown home.
This Indians moment was Brian Sipe at old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland seeing the safety take a jab step to Dave Logan and Sipe throwing to Ozzie Newsome with the ball winding up in the hands of safety Mike Davis, a guy who couldn't catch a cold at any other time in his career.
Skinner looked at the shortstop and held Lofton. The ball rolled into the outfield.
Instead of being the spark plug who ran the Indians into a tie, Lofton was the sad figure who talked about what could have been.
Then there was Ryan Garko, who hit a blast to center field in the eighth with two on.
This ball was tagged, but it was tagged to the wrong part of the park, and Brook Jacoby Ellsbury was able to track it down.
Ten feet to the right, and the game is tied.
Then there's Casey Blake, who sent a blast to a similar spot in center field for the game's final out except deeper. Coco Crisp ran it down, which led Jonathan Papelbon to throw his glove in the air.
What you wondered with Blake's blast was where it was in the seventh, when he swung at the first pitch and hit into an inning-ending double play with Lofton on third.
A fly ball there scores a run, and the game is tied. Blake, one of the most patient hitters on the team, swung at the first pitch against a guy who was close to being rattled. End of inning.
So it goes with Cleveland sports teams.
They say there's no crying in baseball, but the World Series of 1997 proved there is no God, either. Not with Craig Counsel and Edgar Renteria coming up with crushing hits and runs.
This series, when the Indians were ahead 3-1 and playing at home to go to the World Series, confirms that absence of a higher power.
This doorman at the Courtyard didn't know that when he continued speaking.
''Those guys are young, and now they've been through it,'' he said. ''They'll know how to handle it next time and they'll do better.''
Once again, from a doorman comes wisdom.
Experience will help the Indians and maybe the pitchers won't give up 30 runs the last three games of a series.
By any objective measure this was a successful season, one to remember and of which to be proud. Let's not forget that these Indians were not predicted by many to win the AL Central.
Had someone lined any of us up in April and said, ''You'll beat the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series, then take the Red Sox to seven in the ALCS,'' most of us would have been happy.
So while we lament the things that could have been, let's still try to take a step back and appreciate a season that was special.
And try not to think that with a few breaks, it could have been a little bit more special.
In the late hours of a New England evening Sunday, fans who jammed the city's public transportation system were high-fiving each other. Riders on the MBTA sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game and airport shuttle buses Monday morning had ''Go Sox'' on the scroll.
Someday, somehow, some way those kind of things will happen in Cleveland.
It might happen with this team and this group of players.
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