Tied

Some reasons to love postseason:

• If anyone had told me before the series started that CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona would both pitch like crap and that the Indians and Sawx would still go back to Cleveland tied 1-1, I would have asked for a swig of whatever they were drinking.
• Unlikely postseason hero #1 - Tom Mastny. If the Indians win this series, Tom Mastny's 1-2-3 inning against Ortiz, Ramirez and Lowell, will likely have been the turning point. On paper, this should have been disaster. Once the Sawx had to bring in Eric (L'Homme Brulant) Gagne, the game was over. The fact that the Indians torched the last guys out of the Sawx bullpen has to be giving them concern in the Back Bay.
• Unlikely postseason hero #2 - Christopher Trotman Nixon. After pinchrunning for Pronk in the 8th, Wedge needed another DH in the 11th, and in came Trot Nixon, in his old home park, with the go-ahead run on second base. And he stayed in the game after the Sawx brought in a lefthander to face him. And then, he calmly stroked a single to centerfield where Coco Crisp proceeded to throw weakly to the cutoff man, requiring the cutoff man to make a perfect throw to get Grady Sizemore at the plate. The throw was not perfect. Even though Sizemore got a bad read on the ball and a late jump, he still beat the throw. Anyone in Cleveland still missing Coco?
• Wasn't Curt Schilling supposed to be The Super Clutch Pitching God with postseason experience who was going to see the Sawx through against the raw rookie Carmona, who was going to crack under the pressure?
• Think the Sawx would like to have Kason Gabbard back?
• Come back, Rafael Perez. We need you.
• Franklin Gutierrez is no longer afraid of the Green Monster.

I don't have anything to say about Game 1 or the first part of Game 2 for the simple reason that I didn't see any of it. Longstanding personal commitments, including singing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Columbus Symphony Chorus and a house full of classmates back in town for our 20th college reunion, kept me from seeing any of that baseball.

The Indians go home having taken the home field advantage from the Sawx. I would be surprised if the series does not go back to Boston for a Game Six, but it is nice to know that a return to Boston is not necessarily foreordained if the Indians can take care of business. I still think it goes seven, but last night's game will at least put a little hitch in the giddyup of the Red Sox Express.

If you're not reading Ryan Garko's postseason blog, you're missing out.

Next up - Westbrook v Matsuzaka at the Jake. Let the sinkers sink and let the gyros gyro!

A Souvenir for Your Yankee Loving Friends

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=7&id=875442003

According to this article above in The Scotsman, Rachael Harris, a sculptor from Orkney, has found a way to encase midges in amber resin. I could not find where she is selling them online, but I will keep looking. Next time you're in Orkney, buy a few and give them to your Yankee fan friends to comemmorate the Day of the Midges.

The following links to pictures of midges in amber, but has no relation to Rachael Harris that I could see.

http://www.3dham.com/microgallery/amber.html

Priceless

A friend of mine e-mailed this to me at work. I wish I knew who did it so I could give it proper attribution.

ALCS Preview - Indians vs. Red Sox

It's even. Flip a coin.

Both teams tied for the best record in baseball. Both teams have great starting pitching and solid bullpens. Both teams can score runs and have solid hitters 1 through 9. The differences between these two teams statistically are not that significant.

The only significant advantage that Boston has over the Indians is home field advantage, and they only have that because we threw Sowers and Lee at them to use as pinatas during the season.

How can you not love a Game 1 matchup of Sabathia vs. Beckett? Or a Game 2 matchup of Carmona vs. Schilling?

This should be tense, exciting baseball, and I will be very surprised if either team is able to wrap this up before a Game 7.

At this point, most sportswriters would toss out a bunch of cliches about the team that executes the best will probably win, or give the edge to Boston because they're at home, and will probably be throwing their ace 3 times. Maybe they'd offer a position by position breakdown and assign an edge based on whether Garko or Youkilis is the better first baseman. That's all well and good, but it really doesn't tell us that much.

My take -- the teams are so evenly matched that the team with the most breaks is going to win. The team that gets a surpise homer to wrap around the Pesky Pole. The team whose pitcher gets a ball to stay in Fenway Park because it hits high off the Green Monster and then manages to strand the runner at second. The team whose pitchers get the umpires who call the strike zone more favorable to the way they pitch. The team that bloops one in between three fielders in short right center field. More importantly, there is no way to tell who that team is going to be going in.

The baseball gods are notoriously fickle. If there were a greater disparity of talent, it would be easy to give one team an edge based on talent alone. There isn't. I can't guess which team will be getting those lucky breaks. I hope it's the Indians, but I think that it will make for some of the most compelling baseball we've seen in the postseason since 2004.

Start Spreading the News...

They're leaving today. The Yankees (aka, the Forces of Evil and Darkness in the Baseball Universe - FEDBU) will scatter today, packing their gear and traveling to various parts of the globe where they can spend their offseason counting their cash and pondering how they managed to lose in the ALDS to an allegedly inferior team.

Because, really, everybody knows that they didn't lose to a superior team. The Yankees never lose to a superior team - they just find new ways to beat themselves. Just ask Johnny Damon:

"We got beat in the four games played," Damon said. "Overall, are they the better team? I don't know." Now that's losing with class.

Nevermind that they had their "ace" going against the Indians fourth starter, and their ace left down 2-0 with the bases loaded in the second inning. Chien-Ming Wang, 19-game winner, lost two games in the series.

Nevermind that the Indians outpitched the Yankees best pitchers and outhit the Yankees best hitters in clutch situations.

Nevermind that Captain Clutch, Derek Jeter, in 17 AB, actually hit into so many double plays that he was responsible for 17 outs. He was 3/17 for the series (.176) and hit into 3 douple plays.

Nevermind that Alex Rodriguez, who will be the AL MVP, perhaps unanimously, hit .267 for the series, with 6 strikeouts in 4 games.

Nevermind that their Greatest.Pitcher.Ever (and headhunting punk extraordinaire), never made it out of the third inning in his start. It is worth noting here that Clemens made $19.5 million this year and pitched, including the playoffs, 101.1 innings, for a total cost of $192,497 per inning, or $64,165 per out.

Nevermind that the Indians payroll of $61 million for this year is less than one-third of the Yankees payroll.

Nevermind that the Indians had two players (Lofton, Nixon) on their postseason roster with World Series experiece and three others (Sabathia, Borowski, Byrd) with postseason experience, while the Yankees have been in the postseason each of the past 13 years.

Nevermind that everyone knows that the Indians couldn't possibly win anything with Joe Knows Closing taking the hill in the 9th inning of a close game, especially after he blew a game in Yankees Stadium in early April, 6 months ago.

The Yankees and their fans will always be convinced that the better team did not win and that the Yankees beat themselves instead of losing to a superior team. That's okay. That is what makes them Yankees and Yankee fans.

The Indians, on the other hand, will also be leaving. They're going to Boston to start the American League Championship Series.

And all the Yankees have to show for their season is a boatload of money, a manager that may be fired because he could not beat a team with a payroll 1/3 of his team's -- despite taking his team into postseason for a 13th straight year, a pitching staff that is old and in disarray, the possible loss of the best hitter in baseball, and the decision on whether to exercise expensive options on overpaid players. The Bronx Zoo, indeed.

Start spreading the news. They're leaving today.

The Trot Giveth, and the Trot Taketh Away

Game 3 of the Indians-Forces of Evil and Darkness in the Baseball Universe (FEDBU) series is in the books, and the Indians now lead their ALDS series 2 games to 1 after last night's 8-4 FEDBU victory.

Roger Clemens, headhunting punk and future Hall of Famer in the event he ever stays retired, looked like a 45-year-old guy with a bad hammy. Roger was gone two batters into the third inning, with what most likely will be his last major league pitch striking out Victor Martinez. Clemens left on the hook for a 2-0 deficit, including a solo home run to surprise starter Trot Nixon, which was expanded to 3-0 when Jhonny Peralta dhoubled in Travis Hafner, who walked off Clemens to lead off the inning. That was the last really good thing to happen for the Tribe. Philip Hughes relieved Clemens, and after giving up the double to Peralta, pitched 3.2 innings of scoreless relief and kept the FEDBU in the game long enough to get to Westbrook.

Jake Westbrook looked like Jake Westbrook. He got a lot of ground balls, some of which went through and some of which ended up starting double plays. He was leading 3-1 when the roof caved in in the 5th. Peralta misplayed a grounder to the hole into an infield single by A-Rod. Westbrook, who suddenly was not being given the low strike by home plate umpire Ron Kulpa, elevated sinkers to Matsui, Cano and Cabrera, which led to a run scoring and two men on for Johnny Damon. He then elevated a sinker to Damon, who deposited it in the right field stands to give the FEDBU a 5-3 lead.

The FEDBU expanded the lead to 8-3 the following inning off Westbrook and Aaron Fultz, helped out by Trot Nixon allowing a Robinson Cano bases loaded single to skip beneath his glove, clearing the bases. Since the game was pretty much out of reach anyway, Trot was allowed to bat in the 8th inning, and got an RBI double to the gap in left to drive in the Indians last run off uber-phenom Joba "Walks on Water" Chamberlain. Chamberlain seemed human in the 8th, as the Indians managed to get 3 straight hits.

Jensen Lewis struck out the side in the 7th. Joe Knows Closing pitched a scoreless 8th to get some work in and Mariano Rivera slammed the door on the Tribe in the 9th.

So, we now go to Game 4 tonight. The FEDBU will start Wang on 3 days rest, while the Indians will go with Paul Byrd. Both pitchers will have a short leash, and the FEDBU have shot most of their better bullpen bullets by using Hughes and Chamberlain for extended appearances in Game 3 while Betancourt and Perez stayed on the Indians' bench. If Wang performs poorly, Mike Mussina will be available for long relief. Aaron Laffey, a left-handed sinkerballer, will likely be the Indians long guy out if Byrd runs into trouble.

So why did Wedgie start the Trotster? He has an outstanding batting record against Clemens, and his intuition paid off initially. However, Wedge's failure to lift Trot for defensice purposes once Clemens left the game probably cost the team. If Gutierrez is in right field, the FEDBU likely score only one run on Cano's single, and the Indians turn two on Cabrera's ensuing grounder to third. It's still 6-3, but the late innings become much more interesting, with the Tribe bringing the potential go ahead run to the plate in the 8th off Joba "I am the Walrus" Chamberlain.

The good news is that the Indians are still up 2-1, and the FEDBU have to win 2 games while the Indians have to win 1. Is a FEDBU comeback possible? Of course - nearly anything is possible. Is it probable? The odds say no.

Travis Hafner is Lord of the Flies

A pest in baseball is typically one of those annoying players like David Eckstein who seems to bother the opposition. Yesterday, the pests were really pests - midges swarming Jacobs Field in the 8th inning. Forces of Evil and Darkness in the Baseball Universe (FEDBU) uber-phenom Joba Chamberlain got rattled and uncorked two wild pitches - the first of which put the tying run in scoring position, and the second of which scored the tying run from third- and the Indians came from behind to beat the FEDBU 2-1 in 11 innings.

The Indians had many opportunities to put the Yankees away - they were ultimately 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position, but could not do wo until the 11th inning, when Pronk (remember him?) laced a bases-loaded full-count two-out single to right centerfield to score Kenny Lofton with the winning run. They left 14 runners on base. The other hit with RISP was a single by Kenny Lofton in the second, on which Jhonny Peralta was thrown out trying to score from second. It is worth noting that the stas had aligned earlier in the inning to allow Peralta (Slowest.Shortstop.Ever) to steal second off Andy (Best.Balk.Move.That.Never.Gets.Called.Ever) Pettite, and that to expect him to score on a single to shallow center was probably pressing their luck a bit too far. Pettite also threw out Lofton trying to steal third base to end the fifth inning.

It is worth noting that although the FEDBU appeared noticeably disconcerted by the midges, the Indians did not. Fausto Carmona appeared completely oblivious to the midges, and he was spectactular, going 9 complete innings, giving up only 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5. Unfortunately, 1 of those hits was a home run by Melky Cabrera (yeah, go figure). He got 18 ground ball outs. His last pitch struck out Alex Rodriguez with the potential winning run on second base. Rafael Perez shut down the FEDBU in the 9th and 10th.

Other heroes for the Tribe include Kenny Lofton, who went 2 for 3 with 2 walks and scored the winning run, and Grady Sizemore, who scored the tying run, tripled, and beat out a high throw to first base after striking out in the 10th to help make Mariano Rivera sweat. Rivera required 38 pitches to make it through two innings of relief after the Indians loaded the bases off of him in the 10th. As a result, the FEDBU were forced to bring in Luis Vizcaino in the 11th, who gave up the winning run.

A few words about Thursday's game while we're here.

Batting practice, baby! 12-3 Tribe. With both pitchers being squeezed by a small strike zone, a more mature Sabathia was able to cope with it, while Chien-Ming Wang was not. After a tired Sabathia worked out of a bases loaded with one out situation in the fifth inning by blowing fastballs by Jorge Posada and getting Hideki Matsui to pop out in what was then a one-run game, a tired Wang allowed a two-run shot to Victor Martinez to make the game 6-3. Then the FEDBU bullpen came in and pitched batting practice, while Perez, Lewis and Betancourt shut the FEDBU down.

So, now the series goes to the Big Apple with the Indians up 2-nil. Sunday's game is Westbrook vs. Clemens, whom the FEDBU have been saving for the playoffs. We'll see if Clemens is still worth $4.5 million per month after not pitching since September 16.

FEDBU fans will whine about how the game should have been stopped because of the midges. Let them. Both teams had to play through the bugs and umpire crew chief Bruce Froemming said after the game that he had no intention of calling the game. Mickey Mantle would have played through the bugs. Joe DiMaggio would have played through the bugs. Yogi Berra would have played through the bugs. Fausto Carmona wasn't bothered by the bugs at all. Man up, FEDBU fans. If you would have played better during the season, you would have won your division and this game would have been in your house. Get over yourselves.