What can I say about tonight’s game? Total domination by Beckett. A brillant outing by Beckett. Just what the Red Sox needed. I could definitely go with any of the above as Beckett did what he does best, pitch well in big game situations. Beckett’s 8 innings and 11 strikeouts helped key the Red Sox to a 7-1 victory. The win by Beckett and the Red Sox cuts the Indians lead to 3-2 and sends the ALCS back to Boston on Saturday night.
After not scoring first in the four games of the ALCS so far, the Red Sox struck in the 1st inning. Dustin Pedroia led off with a ground out then Kevin Youkilis took a Sabathia fastball and put into the right field seats at the Jake for a solo home run and 1-0 Red Sox lead. Sabathia then struck out David Ortiz for the second out. Manny Ramirez followed that up with a double to deep left center as he kept his hot bat going. Lowell got a good pitch to hit and took it to right field for a single. Indians right fielder Franklin Gutierrez gunned out Manny at the plate to prevent a run from scoring and it ended the top of the 1st.
Beckett struggled just a little out of the gate as Grady Sizemore led off with a double after falling behind in the count. Asdrubal Cabrera then hit a sharp single to right field but Sizemore had to hold up at third because the ball was hit so hard. Beckett got the outs he was looking for as he got Travis Hafner to ground into a double play but Sizemore ended up scoring on the play. Beckett finished off the 1st with his first strikeout off the night off the bat of Ryan Garko.
Both Beckett and Sabathia had easy 2nd innings. Sabathia hit Jason Varitek on the elbow with a pitch but that would be the only problem of the inning for him. Beckett allowed a 2-out walk, his first of the postseason, to Gutierrez. He sent Casey Blake back to the dugout as he got him to strikeout for the third out.
Pedroia, who has been struggling at the plate, led off the 3rd with a single but he was quickly retired as Sabathia got Youk to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. Big Papi then worked a 2-out free pass from Sabathia. Manny followed that with an opposite field bomb that bounced off the top of the wall in right center. Big Papi scored all the way from first and Manny being Manny thought it was a home run and he didn’t run hard at all. Terry Francona came out to argue that it was a home run but in the end the umpires got together and made the correct call. The longest single Manny has ever hit was good enough though to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Sabathia rebounded to strikeout Lowell to finish the 3rd.
The Sox had another chance to score in the 4th inning but again they failed to do so in part to Coco Crisp’s inability to bunt the ball. Bobby Kielty and Varitek started the inning with singles. So with runners on first and second and nobody out, Coco was asked to bunt the runners. He was unable to do and ended up striking out. Sabathia then got Julio Lugo to ground into a 6-3 inning-ending double play.
Beckett needed only 15 pitches to get through the Indians lineup in the 3rd and 4th inning. Two of the outs came via the strikeout while the other were ground ball outs.
In the 5th, Boston brought their runners left on base count up to 7 after the left them loaded. Sabathia had gotten the first two outs of the inning in the way of Pedroia and Youk. Big Papi singled and went to second on a wild pitch with Manny at the dish. Manny would ended up walking and then Sabathia grazed the uniform of Lowell for a HBP that loaded up the bases for Kielty. He couldn’t duplicate his past success against Sabathia as he flew out to right for the third out.
Fan favorite Kenny Lofton led off the 5th for the Indians. On a 3-0 count, he dropped his bat the plate as he thought the first strike of the AB was a ball. Beckett was a wee bit perturbed at this and as he got Lofton to fly out, he started jawing at him as Lofton was running towards first. As soon as Lofton hit first, he immediately started heading toward Beckett at the mound, but the home plate umpire got in front of Beckett and told him to be quiet. The benches cleared and the bullpens came running in. The whole fracas was without incident as nobody threw any punches. Probably a few 100 f-bombs but that was it. Beckett came right back and struck out Gutierrez for the second out. Beckett then gave up back-to-back singles to Blake and Sizemore but he got his 7th strikeout of the night in Cabrera to escape any damage from being done on the Jacobs Field scoreboard.
Sabathia had no problems in the top of the 6th as he easily set down the struggling bottom of the 3 of the Red Sox batting order in Varitek, Crisp and Lugo. Lugo’s out came via the strikeout. Beckett was also perfect in the 6th as he recorded his 8th and 9th strikeouts of the night around a ground out.
Boston would end up chasing Sabathia in the top of the 7th. Pedroia led off with a double to deep center and he scored easily as Youk hit a triple to right center that went of the glove of Sizemore. The RBI for Youk gave the Sox a 3-1 lead. Eric Wedge went to his bullpen after Sabathia had thrown 112 pitches and called upon Rafael Betancourt. Big Papi got a hold of one that was caught by Lofton deep in left for a sac fly and a 4-1 Sox lead. Betancourt struck out Manny looking for the second out and he got Lowell to fly out to Sizemore in center for the final out of the inning.
J.D. Drew replaced Kielty in right to start the 7th with Beckett still on the slab for the Sox. He got the first out in Peralta then had to face Lofton again. Lofton would win this battle as Beckett picked his head up to quick on the comebacker for an error. Beckett settled down though as he Gutierrez to fly out. Beckett ended the inning with his 10th strikeout of the night by way of Blake.
The visiting nine from Boston broke the game in the 8th off the normally reliable Tribe bullpen. Rafael Perez took over for Betancourt to start the inning and walked Drew. Varitek followed that with a fly out. Crisp then grounded into a fielder’s choice to the pitcher but he and Drew were safe as the throw from Perez to second went into the outfield. Lugo layed down a perfect bunt and reached on an infield single to load up the bases for Pedroia. Before he would come to the plate though, Wedge went to his bullpen for Game 2 winner Tom Mastny. Drew ended up scoring on a passed ball with Pedroia at the dish. Pedroia ended up walking to reload the bases for Youk. Mastny would end up walking him and just like that it was 6-1 Red Sox. Big Papi made it 7-1 with his second sac fly of the night that easily scored Lugo from third. Manny ended the inning looking at a called strike three.
Beckett came back out for the 8th inning and it would be his final one of the night. Jacoby Ellsbury took over for Manny in left. Beckett had no problems in his final inning as he picked up his 11th strikeout of the night on his way to the three outs.
Mastny pitched the top of the 9th for the Indians and allowed a 1-out double to Drew. He would end up on third after a Varitek ground out but Coco’s struggles continued as he flew out for the third out.
Jonathan Papelbon took over for Beckett in the 9th inning to face the 4-5-6 hitters of the Tribe lineup. Papelbon struck out Martinez on a 97-mph fastball for the first out of the inning. Garko then doubled to deep center over the head of Coco. Papelboner then walked the ageless Lofton but got Gutierrez to fly out and quiet the raucous Jacobs Field crowd.
Curt Schilling will be your Game 6 starter for the Sox and he will be opposed by Fausto Carmona in a rematch of Game 2. If there was another pitcher on the Red Sox you want on the mound in another key game, it’s Big Game Curt. That name can go to our ace, Beckett, as well. The bats hit tonight, 8 strong innings by Beckett and best of all a win on the road in Cleveland.
All I have to say is I can’t wait for Saturday night’s game. In fact, I am already counting down the minutes. Isn’t this a much better feeling then it was the other night. I am not ready for the season to end and the Sox showed tonight they aren’t either.
Notes and Musings:
If you were looking for the pregame show on NESN today at 7 PM, it was on at 5:30 tonight. The Boston Bruins had their home opener tonight so NESN did their normal hockey thing an hour before the B’s took the ice.
During his pregame press conference, Terry Francona was asked about Joe Torre. He gave his feelings about Torre saying he wished him well. Then the reporters started asking more questions about Torre, and Tito basically said, Ummmmm we are still playing here so I’m only going to talk about that. Kudos to Tito on that answer.
Curt Schilling wasn’t at the game tonight as he went back to Boston to prepare for the potential Game 6 in Boston on Saturday night.
Great promo on FOX before the game. They had Kevin Millar talking about the Red Sox of ’04. He ended it was his familiar Cowboy Up Red Sox fans!!
The last two times the Red Sox have appeared in the World Series they did so by overcoming 3-1 and 3-0 deficits in the ALCS. They are the only team to have ever done this (thanks Steve). The only other team to do it once was the 1985 Kansas City Royals against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Sox have not dropped 4 straight in a single post-season since consecutive 4-game sweeps by Oakland in 1988 and 1990 ALCS.
Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS will start at 8:23 PM on Saturday and Sunday (if necessary).
Josh Beckett’s ex-girlfriend Danielle Peck sang tonight’s National Anthem.
Figure skater Scott Hamilton threw out tonight’s first pitch.
C.C. Sabathia has donated a $100 for every strikeout he has made since the 2005 season. So far he has donated $54,200.
Coming into tonight’s game, David Ortiz has a 12-game hitting streak in postseason games.
Manny’s 4 homers in the postseason ties him with the Rockies’ Matt Holliday for the MLB postseason lead.
Doug Mirabelli (37) and Alex Cora (32) are celebrating their birthdays today.
The Indians had scored first in every game of this series until tonight.
Manny’s double in the first gives him a 15-game hitting streak in LCS play. That ties him with Pete Rose for the best overall in postseason history.
Jonathan Papelbon has only worked 2 innings in this series so far. Both of those innings were scoreless.
Francona got to see his dad Tito while the team was in Cleveland. His father lives close by in Pennsylvania.
The walk by Beckett in the 2nd to Gutierrez was his first walk issued this postseason.
