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Indians one win away from the Fall Classic

Oct 18, 2007 - 1:47 PM Boston at Cleveland 8:21 pm EDT American League Championship Series Indians lead, 3-1

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Indians are starring down the big boys in the playoffs this season and rolling right on through.

The Indians host the Boston Red Sox in Game Five of the American League Championship Series on Thursday, needing one more win to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1997.

Cleveland (96-66) tied Boston for the best record in the major leagues this season, but went into the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees as underdogs and came into the current series the same way, despite dispatching the Yankees in four games.

New York - the top club in the majors in payroll - and Boston - a distant second in the category - have the luxury of adding top free agent talent to their teams year after year, while mid-market Cleveland has relied on scouting and development to build its talented young squad.

That talent has gelled at the right time, leaving the club one win away from the Fall Classic after a convincing Game Four victory on Tuesday.

The Indians scored seven runs in the fifth inning to break open a scoreless contest and Paul Byrd held the Red Sox in check long enough to cruise to post a 7-3 win.

"We had the big inning, Byrdie gave us a chance to win the ballgame, and the bullpen was able to finish it off," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said.

"It's an amazing feeling, I've never been closer (to the World Series) in my career," Byrd said. "It was a magical night for me and the Indians' fans. We want to put the series away at home, but they're a good team so we're not taking anything for granted."

After Boston took the opening game of the series by a 10-3 score last Friday, the Indians have put on a clinic in wearing down pitchers, knocking out Curt Schilling in Game Two, Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game Three and Tim Wakefield on Tuesday. All three pitchers lasted just 4 2/3 innings.

"They have all been one pitch away from getting out of it," Boston catcher Jason Varitek said about his pitcher's struggles.

"We know where we are," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "A lot of these guys have been in this situation before. We can't look ahead, we just have to play the game ahead of us."

Only 10 times in postseason history has a team down three-games-to-one rebounded to win the series. Boston, which overcame a 3-0 deficit to the New York Yankees in 2004, was the last.

The Indians will send ace C.C. Sabathia to the mound in the prospective clincher, hoping for a much better effort from the hefty lefthander than they have gotten so far this postseason.

Sabathia, who is a top contender for the AL Cy Young Award, has not pitched much like an ace this postseason, allowing 11 runs and 11 walks in 9 1/3 combined innings over two starts.

"Between this start right here, I just went into the bullpen and worked on trying to stay taller and throw the ball downhill, something that I hadn't done in Boston, and I had a pretty good bullpen," Sabathia said. "It was command on both sides of the plate, opposite sides felt good. So I'm looking forward to being my normal self (Thursday) night."

He walked just 37 batters in 241 1/3 innings during the regular season, but has struggled to find his command in October and was touched up for eight runs against the Red Sox in Game One.

Josh Beckett will counter for Boston. The 27-year-old righthander, who is Sabathia's main competition for the Cy Young, has been lights out during the postseason.

He tossed a shutout in Game One of the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and followed that performance with a two-run, four-hit effort over six innings in Game One of the ALCS. He has yet to walk a batter in 15 innings this postseason.

"I think that that's what I've done so well this year is I make adjustments within at-bats," Beckett said. "It's all about making adjustments and executing your game plan. Those adjustments come pitch by pitch, and you make them and you do well. If you don't, then you pitch like (junk)."

Beckett has posted three shutouts in eight career postseason appearances, including seven starts, going 4-0 with a 1.87 ERA.