Indians Tidbits (2007 Season)

[MolGenBuckeye]

Even though it was fairly meaningless, here's hoping that last HR can loosen up Gutierrez. He's looked so uncomfortable at the plate during the postseason so far.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Even though it was fairly meaningless, here's hoping that last HR can loosen up Gutierrez. He's looked so uncomfortable at the plate during the postseason so far.

I would describe his at bats as "damn ugly".

Dispatch

Indians 13 Red Sox 6, 11 innings
Bullpen saves day; Nixon comes up big

Sunday, October 14, 2007 4:08 AM
By Scott Priestle


The Columbus Dispatch
BOSTON -- The sweat running down Fausto Carmona's face belied the fall-like chill in the air here this weekend, but it was as good an indication as any of the heat these two offenses can apply. Every inning takes a toll. Carmona could survive only four against the host Red Sox.

The Cleveland Indians bullpen endured the next seven innings in Carmona's stead, and the offense created some fire of its own, burning the Sox for seven runs in the 11th inning of a 13-6 win that tied the American League championship series at one game apiece.
The series shifts to Cleveland with a much different feel than it had before Game 1. The showdown of star pitchers has become a battle of attrition. It seems almost certain that a few more pitchers will get burned before one of these teams wins four games.

Continued......

 

[BuckBackHome]

I'm dragging this morning after staying up to watch the end. Heck of an ending, even with Jo Bo's performance.

Looks like we are back to having a series.

Great job by Wedge managing that game.

 

[CCI]

After it was 8-6 and the Indians kept pounding the Bo Sox, no offense Sushi, it was in the bag and I had to get to sleep I had to work this morning. It's tied now and this is going to be a battle.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Tribe hitters rescue Carmona


Sunday, October 14, 2007 Bud Shaw
Plain Dealer Columnist
Boston -- The charm of Fausto Carmona, and Ra fael Perez, too, was the uncharted nature of the season's voyage.
And now here she blew -- a full-fledged postseason gale.
The Indians outhit the Red Sox in Game 2, bloodying Boston starter Curt Schilling everywhere except his sock. The offense and Trot Nixon's Revenge -- a flared single that brought home Grady Sizemore in the 11th -- led to a 13-6 win that somehow saved the Indians on a night when the Love Boat cruises of two of their best pitchers turned into the Exxon Valdez.

Continued......

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

SCRIBBLES IN MY PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK
Few have won down two to none

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Boston
- Why was the Indi ans' victory last night so big? Consider that since the League Championship Series went to seven games in 1985, there have been 17 teams that have lost the first two games. Of those 17, only three went on to win the series. The three teams that won the series after being down, 0-2, were the 1985 Kansas City Royals, the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals- in the first year of the new setup - and the 2004 Boston Red Sox. That means only one of the last 15 teams to be down, 0-2, has come back to win the series. Those Red Sox came back from 0-3 to ambush the Yankees.
In the regular season, C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona walked only 98 in 456 innings, that's about two per game. But in 8 1/3 innings, they've walked 10 in Boston. Then consider that Tribe pitchers walked the fewest hitters in the American League, but Boston also drew the most walks in the AL. The patience of the Red Sox hitters is frustrating the Tribe's two aces - something that never happened during the regular season.

Continued......

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Leadoff hitter takes the lead

Sizemore has HR, double, single, 3 runs
Sunday, October 14, 2007 Joe Maxse
Plain Dealer Reporter
Boston- There is no hiding at the top of the order.
Without a doubt, Grady Sizemore was one of the most visible Indians for much of the season. Hitting leadoff for 150 games, he was definitely the straw that stirred a lot of offensive drinks during the regular season.
So after going 0-for-5 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night, it was no surprise the Indians found themselves on the short end of a 10-3 final.
In Game 2 on Saturday night at Fenway Park, Sizemore wasted little time making his presence felt. He went 3-for-5 with a homer, double, single, walk and three runs scored to help the Tribe triumph.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Whither C.C.?

Has too much rest' bothered Sabathia?
Sunday, October 14, 2007 Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter
Boston -- There are two questions racing through the minds of Indians fans at this moment.
What's happened to C.C. Sabathia since the start of the postseason? Will he get a chance to set things right before the Indians' October run comes to an end?
In the Indians' 10-3 loss to Boston in Friday's Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, Sabathia allowed eight runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 85 pitches, 44 for strikes.

Continued......

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

CPD

Carmona starts where he once could not finish

Sunday, October 14, 2007 Joe Maxse

Plain Dealer Reporter
Boston -- When Fausto Carmona took the mound at Fenway Park in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday, he did not lament the games that got away from him and the Indians a year ago.
Thrust into the role of closer for the Indians last August, Carmona went through the week from hell when he blew three save opportunities, including a walk-off home run by Boston's David Ortiz.
He is far removed from that situation after establishing himself as one of the league's top starters.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Notebook
Sabathia expected to rebound
Tribe brass thinks ace just had 'one bad game' in 10-3 loss in opener
By Sheldon Ocker Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Sunday, Oct 14, 2007
BOSTON: From the Indians' perspective, losing the first game of the American League Championship Series was only a secondary piece of bad news.
More important: What happened to C.C. Sabathia in Friday night's 10-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, and is it likely to happen again?
''I look at it as one bad game,'' Tribe General Manager Mark Shapiro said in the cold light of the following day. ''It was a game where C.C. didn't have control of his secondary pitches. And against the Red Sox lineup, you have to be able to throw your secondary pitches for strikes. If you keep throwing fastballs, they're going to hit them.''

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

Late night at Jake
Tribe fans rock stadium as Fenway game goes on
By Bill Lilley Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Oct 14, 2007

CLEVELAND: Troy Mulhall has been a record-setting runner this fall as a first-year member of the Nordonia Middle School cross-country team.
But the 13-year-old eighth-grader hadn't felt anything close to the pressure he felt Saturday night when he ran the race of his life.
He wasn't running for the honor of his school. He was running for something far more dear his mom, siblings and friends.
He wasn't running for first-place ribbons. He was racing for a far more coveted prize the best seats in Jacobs Field for an Indians' American League Championship Series game against the Boston Red Sox.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

espn.com

Indians turn Boston marathon into quick knockout

BOSTON -- If this is how life is going to be on the nights that Josh Beckett doesn't pitch, we're in for a long, draining, entertaining week of baseball. When Boston and Cleveland began Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, Curt Schilling and Fausto Carmona were all dressed up and ready to deal. It was anybody's guess whether the Indians could find a way to stop Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. And you had a better chance of seeing Sasquatch streak across the outfield than Eric Gagne pitch in a meaningful situation for the Red Sox.

By the end of the evening, as the final trains on the "T" were ready to leave the station and the temperature had dropped almost 10 degrees, the landscape looked markedly different.
Gagne wakes up a losing pitcher and more vilified than ever in Boston, while Jensen Lewis and Tom Mastny are suddenly hailed as unheralded saviors for Cleveland.

Continued.....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

espn.com

Boston's bullpen implodes in seven-run 11th inning

BOSTON -- Once upon a time, before multiple surgeries on his arm and back, Eric Gagne was the most dominating closer in baseball, going 84 consecutive save situations and more than a year without blowing one. Then again, once upon a time, Creed was popular, too.
When the Red Sox traded for Gagne at the deadline, they had visions of a devastating 1-2 punch with Gagne setting up closer Jonathan Papelbon. It didn't quite work out that way. Gagne went 2-2 with a 6.75 ERA for Boston during the regular season and probably just joined the official ranks of Red Sox players most likely to have their tires slashed. Put it this way: After his performance in Saturday's 13-6 loss to Cleveland in Game 2 of the ALCS, Boston's fans jeered the mere announcement of his pitching line.


Gagne pitched the ninth inning in Game 1 and was ineffective enough that the Red Sox wound up warming up Papelbon despite having a seven-run lead. Before Game 2, general manager Theo Epstein said, "It's obvious that [manager Terry Francona] is trying to find spots when he can get him into a game and find his rhythm again."

Continued......

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Yahoo!

Trot turns table

By Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports
October 14, 2007

BOSTON They adore Trot Nixon here, the loyal dirt dog who played a decade in their old brick ballpark, rolling around in the grass and kicking up earth clouds.
And, well, now they've got one more thing to remember him by, for old time's sake.
A few months after they stood and applauded his homecoming, marveling at this odd sight of Nixon in road grays, he stood and delivered the hit that put a pretty serious damper on their run-away World Series delirium.
In the very early hours of Sunday morning, just as weary servers flicked the overhead lights in pubs up and down Boylston Street, their best pal Trot looped a ridiculously soft single into center field. It landed with a gentle thump, sent Grady Sizemore gliding around third base, and jarred the Fenway faithful with its direct blow.

Continued.......

 

[OH10]

And to reiterate, the Indians should absolutely be playing Nixon in the playoffs, especially when the game is on the line, as demonstrated last night. He's a winner.

As a pinch-hitter. In the field, he's like Willie Mays...

... with the Mets.