I’m honestly at the point where not watching this game tonight would benefit me physically and psychologically. I need the Tribe to win this thing imediately just so I can get back to actually eating regularly instead of every couple days.
In fact, screw this whole playoff thing. I’ve decided to watch ‘Bionic Woman’ and ‘Chuck’ tonight on NBC instead. I’ll live blog that for you rather than the game. Let’s face it; if the Indians lose tonight no one’s reading this anyway.
255pm- It’s more than five hours before game time. Somewhere in the bowels of that rattrap of a ballpark the Boston Red Sox call a home, I imagine Game 6 starter, RHP Curt Schilling, is searching for cameras and digital recorders. It’s certainly not a leap to see him tracking down any and all available media. I can imagine Schilling waiting until the optimal number of cameras and recorders are gathered and the bright television lights are lit. Then I can almost hear him say that not only does he plan on leading his team back from the brink of elimination tonight (God willing), but that he is also, officially, making himself available to the teammates he loves and the manager he respects for an inning or two in Game 7.
That is what true heroes like Curt Schilling do.
And if he advises that he is gutting out Game 6 with a case of the stomach flu and all cameras focus on the vomit stained jersey and on the stain on the back of his uniform pants, I will not be surprised.
430pm- I took the girls to Blockbuster earlier today so the youngest two could get a movie and so Oldest Girl and I could also watch something to pass the time until the game tonight. OG smiled as she brought her choice to the counter where the rest of us waited. “What are you grinning about?” I asked. She laughed and put her movie on the counter. Her choice?
‘Fever Pitch’.
I don’t know where she gets her sense of humor.
She took it back and I made her get ‘Carrie’. Now if the Indians lose we’ll both be up all night.
716pm- Oddly, I’m calmer about this game now than I was hours (and even days) ago. I don’t know if that’s impending joy or absolute terror. I liken it to the day I got married. Which was also equal parts of joy and terror and still is to this day.
735pm- Lineups have been posted.
Indians- Grady Sizemore (CF), Asdrubal Cabrera (2B), Travis Hafner (DH), Victor Martinez (C), Ryan Garko (1B), Jhonny Peralta (SS), Kenny Lofton (LF), Trot Nixon (RF, Casey Blake (3B)
Red Sox- Dustin Pedroia (2B), Kevin Youkilis (1B), David Ortiz (DH), Manny Ramirez (LF), Mike Lowell (3B), JD Drew (RF), Jason Varitek (C), Jacoby Ellsbury (CF), Julio Lugo (SS)
As you’re well aware, Curt Schilling and Fausto Carmona are on the hill to start this Game 6.
801pm- Jeanne Zelasko opens by telling me that Fenway is the last place Lofton and the Indians thought they’d be after taking a 3-1 series lead. And that the Red Sox have the Indians right where they want them. She says all this while wearing the same earth tone, crap colored blazer she went to bed in last night. That blazer is covering a grass-green blouse. She looks like a duck blind but bigger.
806pm- Troy Tulowitzki, being interviewed on the Fox pre game show, hasn’t made an error since August 23rd according to Eric Karros. My wife hasn’t made one in 20+ years according to my wife. Who gives a rat’s ass? Let’s move on shall we?
822pm- Time to go. Schilling v. Sizemore. Cleveland v. Boston. Dana Demuth is the home plate umpire tonight.
826pm- Sizemore grounds out after narrowly missing a home run down the right field line.
827pm- Cabrera grounds out to Pedroia. Two outs.
829pm- Hafner continues with his JD Drew impression and strikes out to end a quiet top of the first inning for the Indians.
833pm- Carmona faces Pedroia. Just let it go tonight kid. Pound the zone.
834pm- Cabrera makes a bare hand pick up going toward 3B but can’t get Pedroia who reaches on the infield single.
837pm- Youkilis gets the 2nd straight infield hit off Cabrera and the Red Sox have an early threat working.
840pm- Carmona walks Ortiz and the bases are loaded and Ramirez strides toward home plate.
Carmona is again confining all his pitches to the right side of home plate. Nothing in to left-handers, nothing away to righties. This part of the order will kill you if you don’t change up and show them a different look. Not to mention that right away you’re looking at a big inning in regard to pitch counts.
846pm- Ramirez strikes out swinging and Fausto is a ground ball away from escaping.
847pm- Lowell lofts a short fly ball to Nixon and Pedroia can’t tag. Two outs for Drew.
850pm- As much as I hate JD Drew I just knew he’s be the guy to stick the knife in the Indians there. Drew unloads a grand slam off Carmona and there is no getting out unscathed.
Not to nit-pick, because Drew hammered that pitch, but Demuth has a dime-sized strike zone early in this game and Fausto is falling behind every Boston hitter.
854pm- Carmona falls behind Varitek and then walks him on 5 pitches. This is a nightmare and we haven’t played an inning.
855pm- Ellsbury grounds back to Carmona and the inning is mercifully over. 3 Boston hits, 2 Boston walks and 36 Carmona pitches later, the Red Sox jump the Indians with four runs to lead 4-0.
858pm- Fox shows Martinez and Wedge arguing with Demuth. Tim McCarver says he saw no close pitches to complain about. Tim McCarver is not only a rambling, bumbling idiot who sees himself as some sort of baseball poet, but apparently his sight is also failing him.
900pm- Martinez leads off with a long HR down the line in right. Then he takes about a 3-minute slow trot around the bases. A little poke at the Sox and a nudge to his teammates?
902pm- Garko strikes out and Peralta grounds out to Lowell. That’s followed by a Lofton fly out to Ramirez and the Indians at least break the seal.
Carmona needs to have a better approach in the coming innings and keep this ballgame right where it is. Schilling will be scored upon again.
907pm- Lugo strikes out for the 1st out of the Red Sox 2nd inning.
910pm- Pedroia doubles off the monster with one out.
914pm- Youkilis with another damn infield single. 1st and 3rd with one out.
914pm- Ortiz does the Indians a favor. He swings at the first pitch and hits it right at Peralta for an inning-ending DP ground ball. 52 pitches for Carmona to get through two innings. Paging Aaron Laffey.
Chipping away at Schilling is now the battle plan. Make him work, make him get in the zone, get his count up as well. If we go to a Game 7 you’d like Lester and the Boston bullpen to be heavily taxed tonight.
918pm- Nixon does his part by singling to lead off the Indians 3rd inning.
920pm- Blake lines a single to left. 1st and 2nd with nobody out. The Fenway mouths are closed all of a sudden.
922pm- Grady can’t chip in and hits a soft liner that Drew snares in right. One out.
924pm- Cabrera also flies to right. It’s deep enough to move Nixon to 3rd base with two outs and an ice-cold Hafner at the plate.
Hafner gets a fastball to hit and fouls it off. Not only is he flat out missing hittable pitches but he’s getting behind the count every time up.
927pm- Hafner tops a ball to Youkilis to end the inning. Opportunity wasted in the 3rd inning.
You can point the finger at CC Sabathia for ‘disappointing’ performances in this series if you wish. But up to this point, Travis Hafner has completely disappeared.
933pm- Carmona walks Ramirez and gets behind Lowell 2-0. This is not the youngster’s night and falling behind is death. Lowell walks as well.
JD Drew to the dish looking to do his best Troy O’Leary impersonation with two on and nobody out. O’leary had a 7rbi Game 5 in the 1999 ALDS on a grand slam and a 3-run home run.
936pm- After another first pitch ball Drew singles through the box and Ramirez scores the 5th run for the Red Sox. That is going to do it for Fausto in Game 6.
Rafael Perez coming in about 5 innings before you’d like to see him. Perez has been, well, less than effective in this series.
943pm- Jacoby Ellsbury delivers a one out single for another run. 6-1. Moments later its 8-1 after Lugo doubles down the line at third base. 8-1 Red Sox. Time to start charting a course for Game 7 and your pitching approach.
952pm- 10-1 Red Sox after a Youkilis single off the wall and a Keystone Cops routine breaks out on the infield when Youkilis is caught in a rundown. Cabrera throws the ball of Youkilis’ helmet that allows the 10th run to score. Perez gets one out and is ineffective again. This is a complete and total staff meltdown at this point and the Red Sox offense is doing a nice job giving Schilling plenty of room for error. They’re also ensuring the heart of the Boston bullpen is well rested for tomorrow. Aaron Laffey is coming into pitch for the Indians.
955pm- Garko gets an out on a ground ball then throws the ball into center field trying to get Youkilis at 2B.
1004pm- The 3rd inning is over. As is the game. Not that I’m interested in giving up, but this game log is really close to over too.
I’m thinking that 716pm post was just the calm that comes with being able to do nothing about an impending ass kicking. We can safely say it wasn’t about impending joy on this night.
1008pm- Indians 4th is over quickly with just a Martinez single to break up Schilling’s heroic effort.
1019pm- The Red Sox failed to score in their 4th inning. Which is nice. And as you can see, this game log is on cruise control. Just like Schilling.
1027pm- Nothing across for the Tribe in the top of the 5th inning.
Checking the message boards on www.theclevelandfan.com during this rout. I love the message boards on nights like tonight. Every tool, knob, hump and mope signs on and melts down. Every player sucks, blows, has choked or will never make solid contact or get anyone out again.
Not only that but you get the morons who are also advising tomorrow night’s game is lost as Boston would be stupid not to start Beckett on two day’s rest.
My thoughts are that 95% of the people in this world are morons. It’s never more apparent than on message boards when the Indians are getting smoked.
1032pm- Outstanding defensive plays by Peralta, Cabrera and Blake to record the three quick outs in the Boston 5th.
1038pm- I interrupt my channel surfing to bring you another Travis Hafner strikeout and another scoreless inning for the Indians.
Great shot of Schilling between innings apparently live blogging from the Red Sox dugout.
I’ve decided to go with Tom Hamilton and Mike Hegan tomorrow night for my listening pleasure. It’s Game 7. You need to make some choices and go with who got you here. If the audio and video match up I’ll roll with the hometown boys instead of the two flaming butt holes doing the national TV broadcasts.
Yes. This is the plan I have settled on and will execute.
1048pm- Red Sox get a single off the wall from Lowell and Laffey shuts them down otherwise in the 6th.
This is far from a pressure situation, but tremendous work from Laffey. I’m proud of the kid. He was going to take the beating if he’d have had to, but he’s done a nice job.
1055pm- Garko triples (you read that right) and Peralta scores him with a sacrifice fly. 10-2 Red Sox after 6 ½.
The Indians will have a one game series tomorrow on the road with Jake Westbrook against Daisuke Matsuzaka. Paul Byrd will be available, as will (gulp) Sabathia for an inning or two. Rafael Betancourt did not have to go tonight so you can likely squeeze two or maybe three innings out of him.
1104pm- Laffey sets down Boston with no damage in the 7th. Javier Lopez will replace Curt Schilling in the top of the 8th.
1111pm- The Indians go in order in the 8th. Joe Borowski will come in to a game where he can do no damage. I like this spot for JoBo. I like it very much.
1116pm- Borowski is on his game. Pedroia hits one to the track in left center field for out number one. Youkilis walks and Ortiz goes off the monster. Ramirez up with a base open. Hmm…not a bad time to drill him.
1119pm- No balls. Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to score Boston’s 11th run of the night. The scary part of the night is Ortiz and Ramirez have done nothing tonight to contribute to the score.
12-2 Boston as Lowell singles in a run. Then JD Drew caps off a career night with a fist-shot to right for another hit.
1124pm- Borowski is tossing his typical slop up to the plate and may not last the inning. As I end that sentence he walks Varitek to load the bases. Also typical, he leaves the bases loaded when Ellsbury lines out to Peralta.
1128pm- Eric Gagne replaces Lopez. He too gets Hafner out (that’s how bad it’s going tonight) on a fly ball to center.
Victor bounces out to Gagne for the second out.
Garko to Lowell to finish this mess.
12-2 final score.
Game 7 tomorrow night.
Stay with it Tribe fans. It’s a strange game. Careers and reputations are made in Game 7’s. I still have faith and confidence in these guys coming out tomorrow and playing a big game to advance. We have months to deal with the aftermath should they not. I also firmly believe the winner of this series wins the whole damn thing. They just have to get there first. I believe you’ll see an angry, embarrassed, hungry team show up to face the Red Sox tomorrow night.
Let’s hope so.