Byrd, Indians roll on to Boston!!
January 15, 2008Byrd, Bats haunt Red Sox!
January 15, 2008Rally Killer No More!!!9:50 pm – Jhonny Peralta has put away the Rally-Killer title, for the time being, with a magnificent 3-run homer in the top of the 4th. Carmona has lookeda little sharper here in the bottom of the 4th, but his pitch count is becoming an issue. Not sure I’m too thrilled to be seeing Jensen Lewis back out there tonight. Regardless, we all knew this series was going to be like this. We have to find a way to win a game like this.
10:05 pm – Carmona just logged his fifth K of the game, getting us out of the 4th unscathed. Meanwhile, in college football, Cal has begun to completely fall apart, giving up the lead, a 2pt conversion, and then fumbling the ensuing kick off. I know this is a Cleveland blog, but seeing as how Cleveland IS in Ohio, I feel its important to mention that the Buckeyes could be #1 when the rankings come out tomorrow….what a crazy season. Ok, back to the Tribe….lets get some insurance ASAP. I hate to sound pessimistic, but being up 1 run in this ballpark is never the most secure feeling in the world.
10:18 pm – Sizemore came through again with some of that insurance I was talking about by giving us a solo shot to right center and a 5-3 lead. After yet another Asdrubal Cabrera out, back to back singles by Pronk and Victor have knocked Schilling out of this game. Big time props to our offense against Schilling tonight. Many experts will tell you that Schilling is the best big-game pitcher in MLB history, and they may be right, but tonight we made him look average. I love the way this team continues to come up big in the toughest spots this postseason. I know I don’t NEED to say it, but we NEED to win this game tonight. Middle of the 5th, 5-3 Indians.
10:27 pm – Wedge brought Carmona back in for the 5th, presumably just to face Youkilis, and Carmona proceeded to fall behind him and give up a single. Thus ends Carmona’s performance tonight. Look, I know Boston has a great lineup and I know they are the best team in the majors at working pitch counts, but I can’t shake the feeling that CC and Fausto both choked a little bit in their first starts in this LCS. I give Fausto credit for staying afloat tonight, but more credit so far in this game goes to our offense. Perez is in now to face Ortiz.
10:37 pm – I freaking HATE Manny Ramirez. 5-5.
10:39 pm – Gotta love Cleveland. Lowell home run. 6-5 Red Sux.
Here We Go Again…
10:44 pm – Nice job tonight Perez. What can you do? Wedge goes to his most reliable bullpen arm, and Perez blows up. It all feels so typical. Anyway, this shirst describes how I feel at this moment. Lets just hope our offense can find a way to step up again.
10:46 pm – HUGE double play to get out of the disastrous inning. Come on offense. Get us back in this game. 6-5 Sux after 5 innings of play.
10:53 pm – Franklin Gutierrez is the new Rally-Killer. Watch this…
10:56 pm – Gutierrez ALMOST blew it, but they decided to throw to first on the fielder’s choice, allowing the tying run to score. 6-6.
11:06 pm – Asrubal just got an infield hit to load the bases for Pronk. This is what we just gave him an extension for. Come on Pronk, break this game open!!!
11:07 pm – Or not. First pitch weak line out. Nice AB buddy. Once again, I love the resolve of our offense to answer back and tie this thing up, but man, I can’t shake the feeling that we just flushed away one of our best chances to get ahead again in this game. It’s now a battke of the pens. Lewis, Bettancourt, and Borowski vs Okajima, Timlin, and Pappelbon. Who has the edge? Time will tell. 6-6 heading to the bottom of the 6th.
11:14 pm – Anyone else think Lewis just gave up a home run to Coco Crisp? Yikes! C’mon Jensen, get us out of this inning where we can hopefully lean on Raffy the rest of the night.
11:17 pm – Nice inning by J-Lew. Other than the brief Coco scare, it was very efficient. We’re heading to the top of the 7th with the game still tied at 6-6. I assume Okajima will still be out there. Victor, Garko, Rally-Killer, and Lofton. This could be a prime inning to get some runs.
11:29 pm – Victor, strikeout; Garko, foul out; Jhonny, strikeout….just like that. 6-6 at the stretch.
11:33 pm – Interestingly enough, J-Lew is back out for the 7th. Hopefully one of Wedge’s pitching decisions in this game can pay off.
11:34 pm – 2 quick outs, including one by Ortiz. Now it’s Manny’s turn….Here comes Wedge. Nice work J-Lew!!! Raffy the rightie is coming in to face Manny being Manny. I’ll be holding my breath now….
11:44 pm – 10 minutes and 8 pitches later, Raffy was finally able to strike out Manny. We’re heading to the 8th tied at 6. An interesting side note, over on ESPN.com Rob Neyer is hosting a live chat, and someone mentioned that Greg Zaun is ranting and raving that there’s some obscure rule that states that a runner cannot be assisted, and so Garko’s shoving of Victor across the plate on Rally-Killer’s home run was illegal. Seems like a dumb and rule and some people need to settle down. But Rob had the best point of all…..the second Jhonny’s ball landed out of play for the home run, the rule becomes moot.
12:03 am – Man these guys are disciplined. Lowell just had a great at-bat, fouling off pitch after pitch to keep staying alive before Raffy was able to finish him off looking. Drew followed with a first pitch fly out. Gotta love JD Drew. Still 6-6 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th and Varitek at the plate. Fun times.
12:05 am – A harmless ground out to Asdrubal at second. We go to the 9th, presumably to face Papelbon with the top of our order coming up. How can you not love this? This is playoff baseball at its best. It’s now or never, guys, because if Borowski comes in and it’s not a save situation, you can bet on the Sux winning this game. The numbers back me up on this. Borowski’s discrepency in ERA in save situations vs non-save situations is enormous. So even though it’s an adventure, lets make this a save situation for him!!
12:23 am – After 2 quick outs, Pronk came through with a single, prompting Wedge to pinch run Barfield for him. Initially I didn’t like the move, but when Barfield was able to steal second, I liked it better. If you can get a guy in scoring position, you gotta do it. But that allowed the Sux to intentionally walk Victor, which really sucks. So that’s where we’re at….men at 1st and 2nd, 2 out, Garko at bat.
12:25 am – What can you do??? Garko hit the ball hard, but right at Lowell at 3rd who was able to routinely throw out Victor going to second. Lowell made a pretty solid play on the ball. JoBo looks like he might be coming in. My ulcer is coming back.
12:28 am – No JoBo yet. Raffy the rightie is back out there to at least face Coco. Rob Neyer was just asked how many innings this game goes. Here’s his response: “Ten, max. My gut tells me the moment Borowski’s in the game, it’s over.” I wish I disagreed with Rob.
12:42 am – Discipline, discipline, discipline. What an AB so far by Youkilis. 6 straight foul balls to keep alive. I can’t take this. I don’t like where this is going.
12:44 am – And Raffy gets him to fly out to Sizemore. I have to get up early tomorrow to go to the Browns game. It would be considerate of the Indians to score some runs here for me. I’m tired. Anyway, we’re going to the 10th.
12:57 am – Paps just blew us away in the 10th. Here comes Papi, Manny, and Lowell to face Mastny. Interesting move by Wedge, to say the least. I like it better than JoBo, to be honest with you.
1:03 am – WOW!!! Mastny just made short work of the Sux that inning. Unbelievable. Now, we get to face Gagne. It will be a relief to not see Paps in there anymore.
1:11 am – Sizemore on 2nd, Cabrera at 1st, 1 out………….and Trot Nixon at the plate!?!?! Ugh, I sure do regret losing Pronk’s bat. Here comes Francona to get Gagne out of there. Lets see what happens.
Trot Nixon Is Postseason Magic!!!
1:20 am – Trot Nixon has come through again with the go ahead RBI. After a wild pitch, we’re now up 8-6.
1:21 am – Make that 9-6!!!
1:125 am – Jhonny “Rally-Killer” Perralta is having quite the post season. He just drilled one down the 3rd base line to the LF corner and we got another run. 10-6 with still 2 on and 1 out.
1:28 am – What on earth is going on?? Gutierrez just OBLITERATED one over the monster. A 3 run HR to make it 13-6!!! This is unreal!
1:34 am – Heeeeeeeeeeere’s JoBo. Hopefully even he can’t blow this one. But I’m still keeping my fingers crossed. 1 on, 1 out.
1:37 am – Double play……….BALL GAME!!!! 13-6 in 11 innings is our final. Series is tied up 1-1. I’ll see y’all at the Jake on Monday for the HUGE game 3 matchup.