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Westbrook aims to continue hot start

Apr 14, 2008 - 1:39 PM Boston (7-6) at Cleveland (5-7) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - Jake Westbrook's last memory of the Boston Red Sox was not a pleasant one. On Monday, he gets an opportunity to write a new chapter for the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians eye consecutive wins for just the second time this season when they welcome the Red Sox to Progressive Field for the first of two games.

Although C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona combined to go 0-3 in the 2007 American League Championship Series, it was Westbrook who took the loss in Game Seven, sending the Red Sox on their way to their second World Series title in four years.

Meanwhile, the Indians were left to wonder what went wrong in their quest for their first championship since 1948. While Sabathia and Carmona have each endured struggles to open 2008, Westbrook (1-1, 2.76 ERA) has been very solid to start this campaign.

Westbrook turned in his second straight solid outing in Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The righthander tossed his 12th career complete game, permitting three runs and seven hits, one start after holding the AL's best offense - the Chicago White Sox - to two runs over 7 1/3 innings.

Grady Sizemore went 2-for-4 with three RBI in Sunday's 7-1 win over Oakland, helping the Indians snap a three-game slide.

Boston, which has won two straight, overcame six walks from Daisuke Matsuzaka to down the New York Yankees, 8-5, on Sunday.

On the mound, the Red Sox will turn to Jon Lester (1-2, 4.50), who made two relief appearances against the Indians in last season's ALCS. The lefthander will be hoping to rebound from his last start on Wednesday when he surrendered four runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings in a 7-2 loss to Detroit.