JOSH BECKETT

A POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
 2007 ALCS, GAME #5
Josh Beckett stifles the Indians

October 18, 2007 ... It was the Red Sox who rolled tonight in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, beating the Cleveland Indians, 7-1, behind Josh Beckett, sending the series back to Boston with the Indians holding a 3-2 series lead. Beckett may not have put himself yet in the company of childhood heroes Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. But with his third dominating performance of this postseason, coupled with his previous exploits in 2003, he now belongs in the same conversation as Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez when it comes to October mythmaking.

He gave up a run on a couple of hits to the first two batters of the game, then allowed the Indians just three more singles entering the eighth. He struck out 11, including Asdrubal Cabrera on three pitches with two on and two out to end the fifth, and walked just one. He is now 3-0 with a 1.12 ERA this October, with 26 strikeouts and one walk in 23 innings

The Indians had a chance to close out the Sox behind their ace, C.C. Sabathia, but Kevin Youkilis homered in the first and later tripled off the glove of indecisive Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore in the seventh, a hit that gave the Sox a 4-1 lead and bid sayonara to Sabathia, who also lost Game 1 to Beckett. The Sox then added three more runs in the eighth, profiting from a throwing error by reliever Rafael Perez and a passed ball, to quiet a crowd of 44,588 that had spent much of its currency on booing Manny Ramirez.

The Red Sox had lost as many as four games in a row three times this season. A fourth time, and they were going home for the winter, which would be enough to put anyone on edge, with the natural exception, of course, of Ramirez.

The Sox blew a great chance to expand their lead after singles by Bobby Kielty and Jason Varitek opened the fourth. Coco Crisp, already the lightning rod for lobbying efforts calling for rookie Jacoby Ellsbury to play, fouled off two bunt attempts then swung weakly at a slider for the third strike. Lugo, who has also been a non-factor offensively, rolled into a double play, his third in the last four games.

The Sox put two runners on in the fifth on a two-out single by Ortiz, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, and a walk to Ramirez. Lowell was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, but Kielty flied to right, ending the inning.

Some of the tension spilled over in the fifth inning, when some back-and-forth barking between Beckett and Indians graybeard Kenny Lofton led to a face-to-face confrontation sufficiently hostile to empty the benches and bullpens. Lofton, leading off the inning, had dropped his bat on a 3-and-0 pitch in expectation of a free pass. Instead, plate umpire Gary Cederstrom called a strike. When Lofton lifted a routine fly to left, Beckett yelled at Lofton, who responded in kind as he jogged down the baseline. Only a lip-reader would know for sure, but it became evident they were not inquiring about each other's health, as Lofton headed for the mound after Ramirez made the catch in left. Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, sensing trouble, stepped in front of Beckett, Indians first base coach Luis Rivera restrained Lofton, and everybody hustled onto the field in case a hockey game broke out. After some brief milling about, order was restored, play resumed, and Beckett proceeded to strike out Franklin Gutierrez.

But Casey Blake, whose home run in Game 4 had jump-started the Indians against Tim Wakefield, lined a two-out single to center, and the Indians wound up with runners on the corners when shortstop Julio Lugo, ranging to the right of second base, deflected Grady Sizemore's chopper over Beckett's head into center for a single. To the plate came Cabrera, who had singled in the first and had a hit taken away from him by second baseman Dustin Pedroia in the third. Beckett blew him away on three pitches, the last a 97 mile-per-hour fastball on the outside corner that Cabrera could only acknowledge with a feeble wave of his bat.

Ramirez, meanwhile, was, as usual, impervious to whatever anxieties buckle those who do not inhabit Manny World. After Youkilis's homer, Ramirez followed David Ortiz's strikeout by doubling into the gap in left center. Lowell then flared a single to right, and because there were two out, third base coach DeMarlo Hale sent Ramirez. The throw was high, but it arrived in plenty of time to nail Ramirez, who did not slide.

There was an even bigger Manny moment in the third. Ortiz had drawn a two-out walk off Sabathia when Ramirez launched a drive deep to center. Sizemore drifted to the wall and jumped, and that's when the confusion began. While Ortiz hustled around the bases and scored, Ramirez slowed to a jog and dropped his hand down in anticipation of a low-five from first base coach Luis Alicea. But the ball caromed back onto the field and umpires signaled it was in play. Ramirez argued it should have been ruled a home run, and was soon joined by Francona in trying to persuade the blue crew that Ramirez be allowed to complete the circuit. Their efforts proved futile, and replays showed the ball hitting the top of the yellow line that runs the length of the outfield wall, which means the umpires got the call right. In the 2007 universal ground rules, contained in the Major League Baseball Umpire Guide, it states: "All yellow lines are in play." Lowell whiffed to end the inning.

But with Beckett standing tall at the barricades, the Indians as helpless as they were in Game 1, the Sox finally broke through in the seventh. Pedroia doubled into the gap in left-center, and Youkilis followed with another drive, this one to right-center. Sizemore, the center fielder, appeared to slow down, uncertain whether Gutierrez intended to make a play. He dived belatedly, the ball ticked off his glove and rolled into right field, and Youkilis wound up with a triple, Pedroia scoring to make it 3-1. When Ortiz followed with a sacrifice fly off reliever Rafael Betancourt, the Sox had a 4-1 lead. Jonathan Papelbon finished up with a scoreless ninth, just his second appearance in the series. He also had a two-inning scoreless stint in Game 2.

The top four hitters in the Sox lineup last night, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez, combined to go 7 for 14 with 4 runs, 6 RBIs, and 4 extra-base hits (doubles by Pedroia and Ramirez and a triple and home run by Youkilis). But the revival of the Sox offense did not extend to the last two spots in the Sox order, where Coco Crisp (.143) and Julio Lugo (.167) have struggled mightily in the ALCS.

Crisp went 0 for 5 last night. He whiffed twice, failed to get down a sacrifice bunt, was unable to get the ball out of the infield in all five trips and wound up 0 for 12 in Cleveland, where he played before coming to Boston. Lugo, who hit into a double play, his third in four games, after Crisp failed to bunt two runners over in the fourth, had a bunt single in the eighth, when the Sox tacked on three runs with the help of a throwing error by Indians reliever Rafael Perez and a passed ball charged to catcher Victor Martinez. Lugo's only other hit here this week was an infield single, and he is just 2 for his last 17. Lugo is batting .214 (6 for 28) this postseason. He was 1 for 12 in previous postseason play with the Astros in 2001 (0 for 8) and Dodgers last season (1 for 4).