Death by Blunt Instrument

Plenty of off-season decisions await Indians GM Mark Shapiro
Thursday, October 25, 2007Bud ShawPlain Dealer Columnist

Ride it out with C.C. Sabathia or seek to trade him? Baseball post-mortems really are a relaxing, fun time for baseball’s general managers. It’s surprising they don’t enter wearing their pajamas and carrying a tub of popcorn.

Mark Shapiro got roughly 72 hours to come to grips with his disappointment before having to measure his anxiety.

Shapiro said Wednesday the team would address Sabathia’s contract status “sooner than later,” meaning before spring training. But, he said, his inclination if the two sides can’t agree on a new deal is to put the best team possible on the field in 2008, which is difficult to imagine doing without Sabathia.

“He’s been extremely consistent and extremely strong in wanting to be part of this team and part of this community,” Shapiro said Wednesday. “The only question there’s ever been, understanding the magnitude of his success and what it means in a free-agent environment, is there a business deal that makes sense for both him and our ownership that can be struck?”

No small question, that. Sort of like, “What’s the meaning of life?”

Sabathia is entering the final year of his contract. Shapiro thinks it’s “possible” to keep him but it will require “some push” on both ends.

It’s rolling a boulder up a mountain.

But even if they’re far apart when spring training rolls around, I’d keep Sabathia, too. Unless this team is looking up to Kansas City at the trade deadline, you’d keep him until the end and hope it’s not a bitter end.

He will probably win the Cy Young Award over Josh Beckett, since voting concluded before the postseason began. His playoff performance aside, it’s not as if the 2008 season can make him much more marketable than he is today.

- You can’t say he hardly knew Kenny Lofton. But don’t expect him back for a 17th time. Or is it 18? Shapiro wasn’t ready Wednesday to discuss personnel decisions. Lofton, a free agent, gave the Indians exactly what they hoped he’d give them. That did not include a lot of run production, which also wasn’t a surprise.

Corner outfielders are usually prime run producers on a baseball team. At age 40, Lofton certainly isn’t one. The Indians have David Dellucci and Jason Michaels signed.

But even if they didn’t, they’d want a bigger bat in left field.

The Indians won’t miss Lofton anywhere near as much as the fans will.

The Indians have 10 days after the end of the World Series to pick up Paul Byrd’s option. The same goes for Joe Borowski and Aaron Fultz, but Byrd is the tougher call. The league’s interest in talking to him about the HGH issue probably won’t amount to much. HGH is banned in baseball. But they don’t test for it. (Now, there’s a deterrent).

So unless Byrd admits he’s still using it, I don’t see a suspension coming down.

Byrd’s story is sketchy to say the least. But he also won 15 games and along with Jake Westbrook at least gave the Indians two pitchers willing to challenge hitters.

- Was Travis Hafner hurt? That would explain a few things. “No,” said Shapiro. “I think pressure maybe — again it goes back to how much he cares — some of the pressure he feels, he carries that weight with him. He’s a resident of this city. He wants great things for this team and these fans.”

One theory died this season.

Remember early in the year when you wondered if the absence of a long-term deal was affecting Hafner? Not so much.

- Josh Barfield is the one we hardly knew.

“It’s difficult for me to see a team next year that doesn’t have Asdrubal Cabrera playing a significant role on it,” Shapiro said.

And then: “[Cabrera] won’t play shortstop. Jhonny Peralta is our shortstop next year.”

Barfield was overmatched in his first year in the American League. That could change, but he didn’t exactly come close to tearing up the National League either.
- Asked to venture a guess at the 2008 rotation, Shapiro didn’t hesitate . . . after the first three names anyway. Sabathia, Carmona and Westbrook.

The other two will come from a group including Byrd, Cliff Lee, Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey.

Shapiro talked of Lee failing to “make adjustments” early this season as the reason for his demotion.

When the Indians talk about Lee, you get the idea it’s not the strike zone that worries them but the zone between his ears.

- The HGH story was not a distraction that cost the Indians the series. Shapiro called it an issue for him and Byrd, nobody else. He’s right. When you lose, 11-2, and are outscored, 30-5, over the last three games, there’s nothing subtle about it. The autopsy shows death by blunt instrument.

Tribe shouldn't shy away from improving lineup

Tribe shouldn't shy away from improving lineup,
writes columnist Terry Pluto
Friday, October 26, 2007

Mark Shapiro said he'd feel good about the Indians coming back with the same team as it had in 2007. That's no surprise, as most general managers would take that stance after a team overachieves by winning 96 games, beating New York in the playoffs and coming within one game of the World Series.

But Shapiro and assistant Chris Antonetti know the Indians need a left fielder with power. The Indians should have learned the cut-and-paste-and-pray approach doesn't work after watching the platoon of Dave Dellucci, Jason Michaels and later Kenny Lofton.

Lost in the Tribe's march to the playoffs was that they were 10th in the American League in runs scored in the second half of the season. They conquered the Central Division primarily because their 3.56 ERA was the lowest in the league after the All-Star break.


Modern baseball people love a statistic called OPS: on-base percentage plus slugging percentage. The Indians consider on-base percentage to be the most critical number.

Slugging percentage reveals a player's ability to hit for power, not just homers - but also doubles and triples.

The average big leaguer had an OPS of .760 in 2007; anything over .900 is outstanding.

In 2007, the average American League left fielder had a .758 OPS. The Indians were a dismal .719. Here's a quick left field breakdown: Kenny Lofton (.714), Jason Michaels (.721) and Dave Dellucci (.678). If you add together their homers (11) and RBI (74), you still don't get much.

The Indians do have Franklin Gutierrez and Ben Francisco, but let them handle right field. Try to deal for a left fielder. The Indians have players to trade. Cliff Lee (5-8, 6.29) is only 30 and from 2004 to 2006 he won 46 games. He's left-handed and signed through 2010. It would not be surprising if he came back to pitch effectively, but with the Indians he appears to have fallen behind Aaron Laffey and possibly Jeremy Sowers for the fifth starter's spot.

Other possibilities would be Josh Barfield, who lost his second base job to Asdrubal Cabrera. Shapiro insists Jhonny Peralta "will be our shortstop next year," but if a deal is big enough, the Indians should consider moving Peralta and Lee. They can play Cabrera at his natural shortstop position while giving Barfield another shot at second base. Barfield is only 24 and a career .301 hitter in the minors. He batted .280 as a rookie with San Diego in 2006 before falling to .243 this season.

While some fans have been begging for the Indians to deal for Carl Crawford (.315, 80 RBI, 50 steals), a better possibility may be Jason Bay, who averaged 33 homers and 105 RBI while hitting .296 for Pittsburgh in 2005-06. He also has a reasonable contract, with two years and $13 million remaining.

Bay was hitting .310 at the end of May, then .209 in the final four months. He's had some knee problems, and that may have been the reason for his decline. But even his subpar numbers of 21 homers, 84 RBI and .244 were more than the Tribe has been getting from left field the last two years.

At 29, Bay should be capable of a comeback. New Pirates GM Neal Huntington (a former Tribe assistant) will want a lot in return. But the Indians should talk to him, and keep the phones busy as they pursue one more big bat

Let's not forget success of season for Tribe

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.

Some Cleveland Indians' contracts are up

Some Cleveland Indians' contracts are up
Tuesday, October 23, 2007Jodie Valade
Plain Dealer Reporter

As his Indians teammates packed up boxes and cleaned out their lockers Monday at Jacobs Field, pitcher C.C. Sabathia strolled up to outfielder Trot Nixon. He swiped Nixon's jersey off a hanger in his locker, handed the outfielder a pen and demanded he sign the back of the uniform.

Sabathia added the signed jersey to his collection, folding the jersey in a box that contained all the autographed memorabilia he has snared this season. He had to ask for Nixon's contribution Monday because Sabathia only collects jerseys from his favorite players - and he wasn't sure when he will see Nixon again.

Nixon is one of a handful of Indians whose contract is up and might not be back next season. Even though the outfielder injected the team with his jovial nature and brash experience in the locker room - as well as invented the postgame pie-in-the-face tradition - he hit .251 while yielding increasing time in right field to promising newcomer Franklin Gutierrez. Nixon declined to speak to reporters Monday.

Kenny Lofton, who was so embraced in his return to the Indians, faces an uncertain future, too. Again. The 40-year-old Lofton has played for eight teams since leaving the Indians the second time in 2002.

"It's not on me," Lofton said. "The situation is never on me. If it was up to me the last eight years, I wouldn't have been in all those different places."

Lofton said of his return to the Tribe: "It was awesome. It was a great experience. The fans get behind you during this time of year. It was awesome."

More uncertainties:

Another handful of Indians have club options: right-hander Paul Byrd, closer Joe Borowski and left-handed reliever Aaron Fultz.

Byrd's option was expected to be picked up, but news of his HGH use from 2002-05 might impact the Indians' decision now.

Borowski's option must be picked up 14 days after the conclusion of the World Series, and he said he expects to hear hints of the Tribe's intention before that. The 36-year-old, who recorded a career-high 45 saves this season, wants to return.

"Who wouldn't?" he said. "This is a first-class organization from top to bottom. It starts with the front office and how they treat people, what they look to bring in. You can't say enough about the team. This is probably the closest group of guys I've ever been around. It'd be a pleasure. I hope I have an opportunity to come back."

Third baseman Casey Blake is eligible for arbitration, but the Indians are expected to work out a deal. The Tribe has not gone to arbitration since 1993.

Still fast:

Lofton had a chance to see a replay of his baserunning in Game 7's seventh inning, when third-base coach Joel Skinner held Lofton at third on Gutierrez's single to right, and the still-speedy outfielder said he would have been safe if sent home. The Indians trailed, 3-2.

"I could have scored," Lofton said. "I use my speed. If a ball's hit to the outfield, I'm going to try to score, regardless of how shallow or whatever a guy's playing. I'm going to try to score. That's just who I am."

Lofton emphasized he had to follow the instructions of Skinner. "There's nothing I can do about it," Lofton said. "That's his decision. I have to listen."

Not again:

Borowski now has the unfavorable distinction of playing on two teams that led 3-1 in a league championship series - and then lost the series. In 2003, Borowski played for the Chicago Cubs, who crumbled to the Florida Marlins.

"At least with the Cubs you knew there was one definitive mark that pretty much decided the series," Borowski said. "And I'm not saying it was the [Steve] Bartman thing, but it was that inning. This is a little tougher to take because I thought we had a fantastic opportunity to advance. It will be a bitter pill to swallow."

ALCS ratings:

Sunday night's Game 7 drew an 11.7 rating, which was 8 percent better than the 10.8 earned by last year's NLCS Game 7 between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. It was the highest-rated LCS game since 2004.

Is this the end for Indians or the beginning?

Cleveland Indians have unanswered questions
Is this the end for Indians or the beginning? Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Paul HoynesPlain Dealer Reporter

Jacobs Field sat there Monday in the morning sun, green and manicured. All it needed was a ballgame.

There could have been one there Wednesday. Game 1 of the World Series between the Indians and Rockies was almost a reality.

Then came one of the biggest folds in Indians postseason history. Leading Boston, 3-1, in the American League Championship Series on Oct. 16, the Indians lost three straight games by a combined score of 30-5. It cost them their sixth trip to the World Series and a chance to be world champions for the first time in 59 years
So instead of resting Monday, taking care not to talk too loudly because of their champagne hangovers, after clinching the pennant Sunday in Game 7 at Fenway Park, the Indians were cleaning out their lockers. They will each have an exit meeting with General Manager Mark Shapiro and manager Eric Wedge before escaping into the off-season.

Amid the boxes, bats, gloves and clothes, C.C. Sabathia still couldn't believe how he pitched in three postseason starts.

"I wanted to win so badly, I got real emotional, real competitive," said Sabathia. "It took me over. That hasn't happened to me in a couple of years."

Sabathia, who lost to ALCS MVP Josh Beckett in Games 1 and 5, went 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA.

"We all felt like we were going to win it," said Sabathia. "I felt like I had to throw perfect pitches and shutouts. That's not me."

Sabathia and Fausto Carmona won 19 games each during the regular season. They made four starts in the ALCS and went a combined 0-3 with a 12.67 ERA (23 runs in 16 1/3 innings).

Fenway Park has become Carmona's personal haunted house. After blowing consecutive save opportunities at Fenway in his short trial at closer in 2006, Carmona lasted six innings in two ALCS starts at Fenway. He gave up 11 runs on 10 hits and nine walks.
"I would have bet my paycheck that Fausto and I wouldn't have done that," said Sabathia. "I'll take the blame on that. Fausto is still a young guy. This was his first full season in the big leagues."

Closer Joe Borowski, who saved 45 games during the regular season, had one of only two saves in the ALCS.

Jonathan Papelbon had the other, entering Sunday’s 11-2 victory in the eighth inning with the Red Sox leading, 5-2.
“We lost the first game and won three straight,” said Borowski. “Then they won three straight. I guess we shouldn’t have lost the first game.”

It was the Indians’ first three-game losing streak since they lost four straight from Aug. 10 through Aug. 14. From Aug. 15 through Game 6 Saturday, the Indians never lost more than two in a row.

The Indians’ late-inning collapse in Game 7 stunned Borowski “It’s something you haven’t seen all year,” he said. “Jake Westbrook is pitching a great game, and in the blink of an eye, the game is suddenly out of reach. Sometimes it only takes one little thing and it snowballs.”

A little thing like third base coach Joel Skinner stopping Kenny Lofton after Franklin Gutierrez’s single over the third base bag bounced off the grandstand in foul territory and rolled into left field. Skinner thought shortstop Julio Lugo had a shot at the ball and stopped Lofton. The ball, however, rolled to left fielder Manny Ramirez.

Lofton’s run would have tied the score, 3-3. When he didn’t score, Casey Blake promptly hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. Then Blake started the bottom of the seventh with an error at third to set up Dustin Pedroia’s two-run homer off Rafael Betancourt, who had not allowed a run in the postseason before Game 7.

Boston scored six more runs in the eighth, three on Pedroia’s double and two on Kevin Youkilis’ two-run homer off the Coke bottles above the Green Monster.

“It’s sad that we lost the series, but I thought that we had a great season,” said Gutierrez.

In the visitor’s locker room after Sunday’s game, catcher Victor Martinez, who hit .296 (8-for-27) in the ALCS and .318 (14-for-44) in the postseason, was close to tears.

“I did not see Victor crying, but it would not surprise me,” said Gutierrez. “He loves this team.”

While Martinez hit throughout the Tribe’s 11 postseason games, others did not. Travis Hafner hit .148 (4-for-27) and set an LCS record with 12 strikeouts. Grady Sizemore hit .222 (6-for-27).

Boston out-hit the Indians, .318 to .254, and outscored them, 51-32.

“We got beat by a great team,” said Ryan Garko, who hit .292 (7-for-24) in the ALCS.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys on this team. This wasn’t the end of something, it was the beginning of something.”

Plain Dealer columnist reflects on the Cleveland Indians' loss in the ALCS
Tuesday, October 23, 2007

In the end, they played bad baseball. When the Indians needed to be at their best, they were at their worst.

For that, there's no excuse.

Understand that Boston is gifted enough to beat the Indians three games in a row with both teams playing well. But what happened to the Tribe in the final three games of the American League Championship Series was discouraging.

They didn't hit. They didn't pitch. They set league championship series records for striking out the most times (63) and for having two pitchers each starting two games (Fausto Carmona and C.C. Sabathia) and each having ERAs over 10.00.

At times, they were so overwhelmed, it made you wonder.

What happened to that overachieving team with 96 victories, best in baseball along with Boston? What happened to the team that knocked off the Yankees in four games in the first round, including the clincher in New York? What happened to the team that did have control of the Boston series?

Most fans know the Tribe had a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven ALCS. Then they didn't just lose three in a row, they were outscored, 30-5. Most of their pitchers seemed frightened, refusing to throw strikes as Boston drew 20 more walks than the Tribe's batters.

Too many of the Tribe hitters were so tight, they seemed to be trying to squeeze their bat handles into sawdust. In the last three losses, the Indians batted .222 and were a dismal 3-of-17 (.176) with runners in scoring position.

By the final few innings of Sunday's 11-2 loss at Fenway Park, the defense even collapsed. For the series, the Tribe gave up four unearned runs -- Boston allowed none. You won't beat Boston when your two aces fail to win any of their four starts. Or when Travis Hafner hits a homer in his first series at-bat, then is 3-of-26 with 12 strikeouts after that. Or when Grady Sizemore is 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. He had two RBI, one on a homer, another on a sacrifice fly. He left 14 runners on base.

You won't beat Boston when you fail to finish the job at home.

It may be hard for some fans to remember this morning, but the Indians were losing by a 2-1 count heading into the seventh inning of Game 5 at Jacobs Field. Tribe Time was now, as the T-shirts proclaim. But that's when Eric Wedge suddenly began thinking about tomorrow, acting like this were the middle of July and he needed to save his bullpen.

The Tribe manager sent C.C. Sabathia to the mound for the seventh inning.

He looked weary (especially mentally) after 106 pitches in six pressure-packed innings where he was surrounded by more runners than a track coach. In the seventh, Sabathia was hit hard, and the 2-1 score was suddenly 5-1.
After the game, Wedge talked about maybe needing three relievers to get through the seventh inning . . . about not over-working Rafael Betancourt . . . about two games coming up in Boston.

Listening to that, there was only one response - Say What?

The Indians were off the day before Game 5, and there was an off day after Game 5. Plenty of time to rest.

With Boston's Josh Beckett on the mound, maybe it didn't matter because he seemed to be changing in a phone booth rather than the clubhouse. But Game 5 was the time to keep the score 2-1, to see if perhaps Beckett would make a mistake. Or maybe Manny Ramirez would be distracted by an airplane flying by as he stood in left field, maybe allowing a fly ball to drop in front of him.

But that 2-1 game became a 7-1 loss, and the Indians were never the same.

In their last 19 innings, the Red Sox scored 28 runs.

Several times in the playoffs, Wedge said, "It's not about where you play or who you play, but how you play."

Sounds good in theory, but no one should want to play Boston in Fenway Park unless there's no other choice as the Red Sox have baseball's best home record over the last five years.

This is certainly not to blame Wedge for the collapse that began in Game 5 and continued over the weekend in Boston. His leadership is why the Indians were battling Boston when everyone else was at home for the season.

In those three losses, Kenny Lofton was 1-for-11; Jhonny Peralta 1-for-10; Hafner 1-for-12 and the Indians managed only five runs in their last 27 innings. They never led once in the three losses.

The Indians emerged as one of baseball's best teams by doing the things Wedge has stressed since taking the job in 2003 . . .

Separate, don't let a bad game or bad inning carry over to the next.

Be patient at the plate, don't make easy outs early in the count.

Throw strikes, and Tribe pitchers walked the fewest hitters in the American League.

But in the last three games of the ALCS, they went 0-for-3, and paid for it dearly.

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.