What, us worry? Fans can believe in Fausto

What, us worry? Fans can believe in Fausto

If you are a Tribe fan, you probably are nervous this morning.

Then again, if you are a Tribe fan, you probably were born nervous into this somewhat dysfunctional family that wears Wahoo red, white and blue - waiting for your baseball team to win its first World Series since the first Truman administration.

Nervous, and maybe fighting off a sense of impending doom?

That's what it means to be a Tribe fan as your team takes the field tonight in Boston for Game 6 of the American League Championship Series despite the fact that the Indians do lead this best-of-seven series, 3-2.

But now, they have to do it the hard way.

Now, they have to do it in Fenway.

Now, they hand the ball to a 23-year-old Fausto Carmona, who was more nervous than a cat trapped in the Westminster Dog Show when he pitched Game 2 at Fenway Park. He walked five and coughed up four runs during his 100 pitches over four innings. He sweated enough to make a modern-day Noah break out the hammer and nails and start pounding on some boards.

Now, the Indians will have to beat 40-year-old Curt Schilling, who is 9-2 in his postseason career.

Now, they have to win one of the next two games in Boston, where the Red Sox play with increased confidence - 51-30 at home compared with 45-36 on the road in the regular season. Nervous or flat-out scared, Tribe fans need to know it can happen.

Consider Josh Beckett, the new Mr. October after beating the Indians again Thursday. He's 3-0 in these playoffs, 2-0 against the Tribe. In his postseason career, Beckett is 5-2 with a 1.75 ERA.

But in 2003, Beckett was 23 years old, just as the Tribe's Carmona is today. At 23, Beckett had a career 15-15 major-league record with the Florida Marlins. He was a right-hander with a flame-thrower of an arm and a temper that ran even hotter. No one had a clue what he'd do in that October.

Today, we know that Beckett was 2-2 with a 2.11 ERA in the postseason of 2003, that he came back on three days' rest to win Game 6 over New York in Yankee Stadium, giving Florida the World Series title. He was the MVP, pitching twice, delivering two shutouts against the Yankees.

A reputation was made, a standard set. Carmona has the talent to do the same. He didn't win those 19 games in the regular season by accident. Just remember how he beat the Yankees, 2-1, at Jacobs Field in Game 2 of the division series. He dominated the game, one run and three hits in nine innings. His 113 pitches were sinking, sliding and shattering bats of the best lineup money can buy. So he has pitched twice in the postseason, once with excellence, the other with hesitance.

When Dennis Martinez pitched the Tribe to a 4-1 victory and a ticket to the 1995 World Series, the veteran right-hander called taking the mound in Seattle's Kingdome "walking into the mouth of the lion."

Carmona steps into a tiger cage, with its Green Monster lurking in left and a lineup loaded with snarling bats that love to hit in this little ballpark. But when Carmona is Fausto the Great, busting bats and permitting only ground balls - he can throw a shutout in a matchbox.

Carmona was 4 years old when Schilling threw his first pitch in the majors. Schilling has a career 29-11 record at Fenway, where Boston has baseball's best home record over the past five years. But the Indians won Game 4 in New York to advance to the Boston series. And they came back to win Game 2 of the ALCS last Saturday, about three hours after Carmona had been banished.

Are you nervous about this game?

Of course.

But if you are a Tribe fan, you know this is October baseball. Pass the aspirin and try not to bite your fingernails.