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Yankees turn to Pettitte to even the ALDS against Indians

Oct 5, 2007 - 2:02 PM NY Yankees at Cleveland 5:07 pm EDT American League Division Series Indians lead, 1-0

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- It was not long ago that the New York Yankees were a postseason machine, running off a string of four World Series titles in five years. It sure has not been that easy lately.

The Yankees will try to dig themselves out of another postseason hole when they visit the Cleveland Indians in Game Two of their best-of-five American League Division Series on Friday.

Kenny Lofton had four RBI and starter C.C. Sabathia got the outs when he needed to as the Indians defeated New York, 12-3, in Game One on Thursday.

Rookie Asdrubal Cabrera, Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko each hit solo home runs and Victor Martinez added a two-run blast as the Indians pounded Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang and returned to the postseason with a bang.

In the playoffs for the first time since 2001, Cleveland captured its first win over New York in 2007, after going 0-6 during the regular season.

"When somebody beats us up, you tip your cap to them and come back the next day," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "In a short series, you've got to battle every game. Five-game series' is certainly scary, no question."

Since taking a 3-0 lead on the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 AL Championship Series, the Yankees are just 3-10 in postseason games, getting bounced out of the playoffs in the opening round in both 2005 and 2006.

They will hand the ball to veteran Andy Pettitte on Friday hoping to change the tide. The lefthander, who went 15-9 with a 4.05 ERA during the regular season, played a prominent role on all four of New York's recent World Series, usually taking the ball in Game Two.

He owns a 14-9 career postseason record with a 4.08 ERA. However, that record includes an 0-3 mark against the Indians in three postseason starts, losing twice in the 1997 ALDS and once in the 1998 ALCS.

But Pettitte beat Cleveland in his lone start against them in the regular season, allowing two runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings on August 12.

"Obviously I faced them this year, the one game here," Pettitte said. "But you're right, I mean, when we faced them back in '97 and stuff like that, just really, really strong offensive teams. And really I don't know a whole lot about these guys. Looking at scouting reports, looking at the game we went through against them obviously, I know when I faced them earlier they weren't playing as well as they are now.

"The reports on them now are a lot different. So they're a great team. They won their division. That's an extremely tough division. They walked away there pretty good towards the end. Going to try make good pitches, quality pitches and hopefully that will be good enough to give us a W."

Cleveland will counter with 23-year-old Fausto Carmona, who has been a surprising addition to rotation after struggling out of the bullpen in 2006, going 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA. The Cy Young Award candidate finished the regular season tied for second in the majors in wins and second in the AL in ERA.

He faced off against New York on August 10, absorbing a loss after yielding four runs and eight hits in seven frames.

"I know that they've got a great lineup," Carmona said. "When I get on the mound I don't look at names. I just go after the hitters. It will be no different than their best hitter to the ninth hitter. Everybody is going to be the same.

"I know it's a big game, but that doesn't bother me. I know it's the same baseball. I pitched against those guys before. And that's how I'm going to approach it. I'm not going to approach it like any different date."