Fire from the Hip: Thoughts on Sports & Real Life

1. Eric Wedge has pulled all the right strings in this series but Game 6 was the exact opposite. In a critical 7^th inning with the Sox up 2-1, Wedge trotted out C.C. Sabathia after 106 pitches to face the top of the Red Sox lineup. Sure, he had set down the paltry bats of Jason Varitek, Coco Crisp, and Julio Lugo in the 6^th but he seemed gassed. The Indians pen has given up one run in the entire series! Use them. Rafael Betancourt relieved two batters later, but two runs charged to Sabathia gave Josh Beckett all the breathing room he would need.

2. Taking out reliever Rafael Perez in the 8^th in favor of Tom Mastny was simply dumbfounding. With the bases loaded thanks to an error, a bunt single, and a walk, Perez should have been allowed to work out of it. Since giving up back-to-back homers in Game 2, Perez, a key cog in the Indians pen, had not appeared. By pulling Perez in this situation in favor of a mediocre middle reliever, the Indians manager showed a complete lack of confidence in the young lefty. If Wedge was trying to keep the deficit at three runs, why not go to Jensen Lewis? Besides throwing gas on a fire by bringing in Mastny, any confidence Perez had after his rough Game 2 performance has now been completely eroded.

3. Josh Beckett is good. Real good. He is intimidating and dominating and once again, pitched superbly tonight. Too bad, Cy Young Award voting concludes before the playoffs. Sabathia, the likely winner, would certainly be a distant second at this point to Beckett. A nightmare keeps flashing through my head: Beckett jogging out of the Sox pen in Game 7 a la Pedro Martinez in 1999 and shutting the Indians down, keying a Sox series win.

4. Travis Hafner will have to go to the video room after this season. What a disaster. I have never seen him so completely out of whack. He is guessing on what pitches are coming…with nothing to show for it. He is zero for his last eight with six strikeouts. He’s lost all feel for the strike zone. He has just two walks and eight strikeouts in the ALCS. He must pick it up at Fenway Park this weekend or the Indians’ job is going to be much more difficult.

5. With Jake Westbrook taking the ball in a potential Game 7, one could argue…I will argue that the Indians season is on the line in Game 6 and rests on the right shoulder of 23-year old Fausto Carmona. There are two ways to look at that: 1) he is young and perhaps, unaware of the pressure of a fan base, thirsting for their first championship in 59 years, or 2) if things don’t go his way early, he unravels at raucous Fenway Park.

6. J.D. Drew will make more money over the course of his contract than the entire Indians team this season. Just so you’re aware, journeyman outfielder Bobby Kielty played in his place tonight with the Red Sox season on the line. No team has ever vanquished the Red Sox and Yankees in a single postseason. It would be a momentous effort, by a team built economically, to beat the payroll behemoths of the East.

I know, I know…the ravings of an angry and very nervous Tribe fan. I wonder if the Red Sox will buy Alex Rodriguez to replace Julio Lugo. So bitter. But that is the life of an Indians team. We’ll see what’s in store for Game 6.

# posted by Nate @ 12:32 AM