Indians eliminate Yankees

There’s nothing like the sound of silence coming from 56,000 fans. It was heard near the stroke of midnight Monday night in Yankee Stadium. When Indians closer Joe Borowski, after giving up his obligatory home run, struck out Jorge Posada to end the game and give the Indians a victory over New York in the Division Series, the huge crowd in baseball’s most famous stadium sat in stunned silence.
From the press box you could hear the yelps of joy by Indians players as they rushed the field to celebrate. You could hear the muted squeals of their wives and family members sitting in the family section behind home plate.
And you wondered if this was the end of a particularly noteworthy Yankee era. The Indians’ win Monday night might have been the last game in the Yankee career of Manager Joe Torre, a future Hall of Famer. It could have been the final game in a big league uniform for 45-year-old future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens.
Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, still another future Hall of Famer, is a free agent after the World Series. Who knows? He could be with another team next year, as could catcher Jorge Posada, another free agent.
Maybe that was why it got so quiet so fast after Borowski sent the Yankees into the off-season. Maybe the Yankee fans realized this might indeed be the end of an era.
For the Indians, however, it’s the beginning of another chapter in what is fast becoming one of the most historic seasons in franchise history.
The Indians are now just four wins away from a trip to the World Series. It would be nice if they could win a postseason series at home for a change.
Where the crowd wouldn’t be as quiet as the 56,000 fans who filed out of Yankee Stadium Monday night. Stunned and silent.