PAUL BYRD

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
 2007 ALCS, GAME #4
The Indians make it three straight

October 16, 2007 ... The Cleveland Indians are one game away from booking their own World Series plans, beating the Sox a third straight time, 7-3, last night to take a three-games-to-one lead in the American League Championship Series.

Any clinching party will have to wait a day. An added quirk in the TV-dictated scheduling has given the teams a night off before they resume play, with Josh Beckett all that stands between the Sox and elimination. Thirteen times a team has trailed in the ALCS, 3-1; it is of some small comfort to the Sox that the last two teams to come back and win both wore Boston uniforms: in 2004 (when they won four straight against the Yankees after losing the first three), and in 1986, when the Sox rebounded against the Angels, Hendu's home run the catalyst to that comeback.

Terry Francona's decision not to use Beckett on short rest and entrust Game 4 last night to Tim Wakefield looked splendid for four innings, with Wakefield working on a one-hit shutout. It blew up on him in the fifth, when Casey Blake took Wakefield deep to open the inning. Thirty-five minutes later, the Indians had their second seven-run eruption in this series. They scored seven runs in the 11th inning of Game 2, and they sent a dozen batters to the plate in the fifth last night.

Three consecutive home runs in the sixth by Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez scored high on the "wow" meter with Ramirez punctuating the feat by hitting his 451 feet to the farthest reaches of center field. That the Red Sox were still trailing by four runs at the time did not deter Ramirez from striking a pose at the plate.

But that would be the night's only show of muscle by the Sox, who were stymied by journeyman Paul Byrd and could not overcome the tack-on runs allowed by reliever Manny Delcarmen, who was summoned to rescue Wakefield but instead gave up a three-run home run to the first batter he faced, Jhonny Peralta. The Indians weren't through. Kenny Lofton singled, stole second, and scored the seventh run of the inning on a bloop by Blake, his second RBI of the inning.

An untimely juggling act by the normally sure-handed Youkilis knocked the knuckleballing Wakefield off the tightrope he was walking after he'd given up the home run to Blake. Wakefield gave up a single to Franklin Gutierrez and hit Kelly Shoppach with a pitch, bringing the crowd of 44,008 in Jacobs Field to full throttle. Grady Sizemore bounced into a force play for one out, putting runners on the corners and bringing up rookie switch hitter Asdrubal Cabrera, who was batting righthanded against Wakefield. Cabrera lofted a pop fly into foul territory down the right-field line, a long run for Youkilis. He had just enough time to encamp under the ball, but it bounced off his glove and bare hand before falling to the earth unclaimed, his efforts to catch it disrupted when an onrushing Pedroia jostled him inadvertently.

Cabrera, given new life, then lined a ball toward the mound. Wakefield jabbed at it, but the ball struck his glove and rolled behind the mound into no-man's land for an infield hit. If Wakefield doesn't touch it, or catches it, it's a potential inning-ending double play. Gutierrez scored to make it 2-0. Wakefield whiffed Travis Hafner for a third straight time, but Victor Martinez shot a ground-ball single through the left side, scoring Sizemore with the third run.

Delcarmen replaced Wakefield, the third straight Sox starter knocked out after just 4 2/3 innings, joining Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka. It was the first time this season three straight Sox starters failed to go at least five innings. With one swing, Peralta doubled Cleveland's advantage, rocketing a 2-and-1 fastball into the right-field seats.

In the first 13 1/3 innings of this series, through the back-to-back home runs by Ramirez and Mike Lowell and the single by J.D. Drew that knocked out Game 2 starter Fausto Carmona, the Sox were raking Indians pitching at a .373 clip (19 for 51) and had outscored the Indians, 16-8. But from that point until the back-to-back-to-backers by Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez in the sixth inning last night, the Sox went into a .183 funk (13 for 71) over a span of 20 2/3 innings, and were outscored, 18-2.

Shackled by sinkerballer Jake Westbrook in Game 3, the Sox were shut out through five innings by Paul Byrd until Youkilis connected to open the sixth. Byrd was dismissed after Ortiz went deep, for Jensen Lewis, who gave up Ramirez's blast. But that was the last time the Sox were heard from.

Red Sox rookie Dustin Pedroia was a model of consistency after the first month of the season. On July 15, he was batting .309, the lowest his average dipped the rest of the season. In his final 64 games, he batted .325, and he finished at .317. But after going 1 for 4 last night, Pedroia is hitting .172, the lowest average among Sox regulars in the postseason. Pedroia has whiffed seven times, one fewer than Varitek.

With his second-inning single, Manny Ramirez extended his League Championship Series hitting streak to 13 games, an ALCS record. If Ramirez hits safely in Game 5, he will match Pete Rose for the longest streak in LCS history. Ramirez also came into last night's game having drawn at least one walk in his last eight postseason games.

Jason Varitek put himself in the record book with his Game 3 home run. He now has 10 postseason homers, matching Johnny Bench and Javy Lopez for most by a catcher. He also drew even with Ramirez and David Ortiz for most by a Sox player.

Francona's father has been here for the series. Tito Francona had already spent three seasons in the big leagues with three teams (Orioles, White Sox, Tigers) when he was traded to the Indians in 1959 at the age of 25 and hit .363 with 20 home runs in 122 games. He never again approached those numbers, but was with the club through the 1964 season, ending up with a .284 average and 85 home runs in six seasons with the Tribe.