Jim Ingraham
JIngraham@News-Herald.com
The mist and fog hung low over the 52-story Prudential Tower, which dominates the Boston skyline, as seen from the press box at Fenway Park. This was Thursday afternoon, when the Indians were supposed to be working out in preparation for tonight’s first game of the American League Championship Series.
Because of the inclement conditions, the formal workout never took place. Tribe players took some turns in the indoor batting cage, did some light throwing on the edges of the tarp that was covering the field, and that was about it.
Instead, the Indians’ players spent the afternoon ensconced in what is the smallest visitors clubhouse in the American League. The Indians’ home clubhouse at Jacobs Field is the largest in the league, so the adjustment when they visit the cramped quarters of the vistitors’ clubhouse at Fenway Park is considerable.
With all the players in the clubhouse, plus the large media throng on hand to cover the ALCS, the clubhouse Thursday was pretty much wall to wall people.
For all those reasons, if the Indians do win the ALCS, the media contingent is hoping the clincher comes in Cleveland. The Indians’ huge clubhouse in Cleveland allows reporters a better chance to dodge the champagne showers that accompany all post-game celebrations following postseason wins.
The visitors clubhouse at Fenway is so small that any celebration held there virtually guarantees that everyone goes home drenched.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Late-inning law and order
David S. Glasier
DGlasier@News-Herald.com
Lewis, Perez, Betancourt and Borowski.
An outsider could look at the collection of names and say, "Sounds like a high-powered law firm.''
As sports fans in these parts well know, those names belong to guys who are laying down the law in the Indians' bullpen.
After playing a major role in the Tribe's drive to the AL Central title in September, the bullpen back-end foursome helped the Indians take care of business against the Yankees in the AL Division series.
In two ALDS appearances covering two hitless, scoreless innings, rookie right-hander Jensen Lewis struck out four of the six batters he faced.
That's showy stuff for the 23-year-old Cincinnati native who started the season at Class AA Akron. He was promoted to Class AAA Buffalo on June 14 and joined the Indians on July 13.
For the Tribe, Lewis went 1-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 26 appearances, 21 of which were scoreless.
Indians manager Eric Wedge and pitching coach Carl Willis were so impressed by the hard-throwing Lewis that they gave him the ball in the late innings of big games throughout September.
"It was awesome when they did that, a real confidence booster that motivated me to get the job done,'' Lewis said.
Perez, a 25-year-old left-hander from the Dominican Republic, was summoned to the Indians from Buffalo on May 28. In 44 appearances during the regular season, he was 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings.
Against the Yankees, the best late-inning lefty in the AL went 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in three appearances.
If there was an award for best eighth-inning set-up reliever in the big leagues, Rafael Betancourt wins the thing hands-down for 2007.
The 32-year-old right-hander went 5-1 with a 1.47 ERA, three saves and 31 holds during the regular season. In the ALDS, the Yankees managed one harmless hit off Betancourt in two appearances covering two innings.
And then there's Joe Borowski, aka JoeBo, aka "The Guy Who Has 46 Saves But Scares the Bejeebers Out of Tribe Fans Everywhere Every Time He Toes the Rubber.''
The 36-year-old right-hander, signed as a free agent last December with an iffy shoulder, gets the job done on guts, guile and willpower.
Will the Indians get past the Red Sox, beat the National League's representative in the World Series and win the franchise's first title since 1948?
If the firm of Lewis, Perez, Betancourt and Borowski keeps making its case during this postseason run, hope reigns supreme.
DGlasier@News-Herald.com
Lewis, Perez, Betancourt and Borowski.
An outsider could look at the collection of names and say, "Sounds like a high-powered law firm.''
As sports fans in these parts well know, those names belong to guys who are laying down the law in the Indians' bullpen.
After playing a major role in the Tribe's drive to the AL Central title in September, the bullpen back-end foursome helped the Indians take care of business against the Yankees in the AL Division series.
In two ALDS appearances covering two hitless, scoreless innings, rookie right-hander Jensen Lewis struck out four of the six batters he faced.
That's showy stuff for the 23-year-old Cincinnati native who started the season at Class AA Akron. He was promoted to Class AAA Buffalo on June 14 and joined the Indians on July 13.
For the Tribe, Lewis went 1-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 26 appearances, 21 of which were scoreless.
Indians manager Eric Wedge and pitching coach Carl Willis were so impressed by the hard-throwing Lewis that they gave him the ball in the late innings of big games throughout September.
"It was awesome when they did that, a real confidence booster that motivated me to get the job done,'' Lewis said.
Perez, a 25-year-old left-hander from the Dominican Republic, was summoned to the Indians from Buffalo on May 28. In 44 appearances during the regular season, he was 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings.
Against the Yankees, the best late-inning lefty in the AL went 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in three appearances.
If there was an award for best eighth-inning set-up reliever in the big leagues, Rafael Betancourt wins the thing hands-down for 2007.
The 32-year-old right-hander went 5-1 with a 1.47 ERA, three saves and 31 holds during the regular season. In the ALDS, the Yankees managed one harmless hit off Betancourt in two appearances covering two innings.
And then there's Joe Borowski, aka JoeBo, aka "The Guy Who Has 46 Saves But Scares the Bejeebers Out of Tribe Fans Everywhere Every Time He Toes the Rubber.''
The 36-year-old right-hander, signed as a free agent last December with an iffy shoulder, gets the job done on guts, guile and willpower.
Will the Indians get past the Red Sox, beat the National League's representative in the World Series and win the franchise's first title since 1948?
If the firm of Lewis, Perez, Betancourt and Borowski keeps making its case during this postseason run, hope reigns supreme.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Wedge and Torre
Say what you will about Eric Wedge, and most of us have, but you’ve got to give him high marks, and a lots of credit, for where he’s taken the Indians this season.
Counting the Division Series win over New York, the Indians have won 99 games this year, and they’re not done yet. Through it all Wedge has been a beacon of consistency.
He may not be the most colorful manager in the league, or the most quotable. But he’s one of the most consistent and most true to himself. That’s probably one of the reasons why Wedge is such a staunch supporter of Yankee manager _ for now, anyway _ Joe Torre.
The two men share a lot of the same principles, one of the main ones being you’ve can’t try to be someone you’re not. Torre talked about that before Game 4 Monday night.
“I know when I first came in here (as Yankee manager) in '96,’’ he said, “I started thinking I was trying to be somebody a little bit different, because it didn't seem to work in all the other places (I’d managed).
“I remember picking up Bill Parcells' book, and I started thumbing through it. I saw this one little passage where it said ‘If you believe in something, stay with it.’ And that sort of locked me back into who I was. Because you try to be somebody else. You try to be a (tough guy) or you try to do something a little bit different, eventually it's going to be exposed because you're here every day.
“So what I try to do is make sense. Try to be as honest as I can possibly be and be able to communicate. I think that's the most important thing. Whether you're managing a baseball team or running a business. I think it's all about people. Moves are one thing. You can say you put on a hit-and-run that didn't work. Those things anybody can do, and you're lucky when they do work. When you change a pitcher, you hope it works, too. But I think it's all about people, because they have to play the game, and the game belongs to the players.
“I'm one of those managers that likes to stay out of the way and let the players play. I think it certainly gives the fans a better show, and it gives them a lot more freedom.’’
Torre was speaking about himself, but that’s also a very accurate description of Wedge and his managerial style.
Counting the Division Series win over New York, the Indians have won 99 games this year, and they’re not done yet. Through it all Wedge has been a beacon of consistency.
He may not be the most colorful manager in the league, or the most quotable. But he’s one of the most consistent and most true to himself. That’s probably one of the reasons why Wedge is such a staunch supporter of Yankee manager _ for now, anyway _ Joe Torre.
The two men share a lot of the same principles, one of the main ones being you’ve can’t try to be someone you’re not. Torre talked about that before Game 4 Monday night.
“I know when I first came in here (as Yankee manager) in '96,’’ he said, “I started thinking I was trying to be somebody a little bit different, because it didn't seem to work in all the other places (I’d managed).
“I remember picking up Bill Parcells' book, and I started thumbing through it. I saw this one little passage where it said ‘If you believe in something, stay with it.’ And that sort of locked me back into who I was. Because you try to be somebody else. You try to be a (tough guy) or you try to do something a little bit different, eventually it's going to be exposed because you're here every day.
“So what I try to do is make sense. Try to be as honest as I can possibly be and be able to communicate. I think that's the most important thing. Whether you're managing a baseball team or running a business. I think it's all about people. Moves are one thing. You can say you put on a hit-and-run that didn't work. Those things anybody can do, and you're lucky when they do work. When you change a pitcher, you hope it works, too. But I think it's all about people, because they have to play the game, and the game belongs to the players.
“I'm one of those managers that likes to stay out of the way and let the players play. I think it certainly gives the fans a better show, and it gives them a lot more freedom.’’
Torre was speaking about himself, but that’s also a very accurate description of Wedge and his managerial style.
Monday, October 8, 2007
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.
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.
The Jake rocks as Tribe wins ALDS
David S. Glasier
DGlasier@News-Herald.com
Two outs.
Bottom of the ninth inning.
Indians leading, 6-4.
JoeBo on the mound.
Tribe on the verge of beating the Yankees and advancing to the American League Championship Series.
Small wonder that the atmosphere at Jacobs Field was charged Monday night as closer Joe Borowski faced Yankees catcher Jorge Posada.
Wait a minute.
The game was being played at Yankee Stadium.
Still, thanks to Indians ownership's decision to throw open the gates at Jacobs Field for all playoff road games, just shy of 10,000 fans were hanging on every JoeBo pitch as midnight drew near.
The faithful - young, old and in-between - had their eyes glued to the TBS telecast showing on the main scoreboard above the center-field bleachers.
"It doesn't matter. We're still up by two,'' one of the fans said to no one in particular after Borowski gave up a one-out, tape-measure home run to Bobby Abreu.
JoeBo, ever resilient, bounced back from getting taken deep by Abreu to dispose of playoff non-legend Alex Rodriguez.
"One more, one more,'' shouted the same guy who wrote off Abreu's bomb as no big thing.
Posada tormented JoeBo and the cheering throng at the Jake by darn near slamming another home run. The long drive to right field curved foul, barely.
Just a few second later, JoeBo closed the deal by striking out Posada.
At the Jake, fans stood, jumped, yelled, exchanged high-fives and did what Tribe fans do when playoff series are clinched and the ghosts of Cleveland sports failures past are, at least temporarily, banished.
On an unseasonably balmy night, many of the fans celebrating the ALDS clincher were children, tweens and teens too young to be carrying emotional baggage from the painful World Series losses of 1995 and 1997.
What mattered to Matt Wallin and Ashley Eleo of Twinsburg was that their Indians had taken down the Yankees and they were there, together, to savor the moment.
"I'm almost losing my voice,'' Ashley said.
"We knew they'd win. We knew it,'' Matt added.
The two teenagers, both wearing ear-to-ear-smiles, waded into a sea of joyous people heading to the exits.
DGlasier@News-Herald.com
Two outs.
Bottom of the ninth inning.
Indians leading, 6-4.
JoeBo on the mound.
Tribe on the verge of beating the Yankees and advancing to the American League Championship Series.
Small wonder that the atmosphere at Jacobs Field was charged Monday night as closer Joe Borowski faced Yankees catcher Jorge Posada.
Wait a minute.
The game was being played at Yankee Stadium.
Still, thanks to Indians ownership's decision to throw open the gates at Jacobs Field for all playoff road games, just shy of 10,000 fans were hanging on every JoeBo pitch as midnight drew near.
The faithful - young, old and in-between - had their eyes glued to the TBS telecast showing on the main scoreboard above the center-field bleachers.
"It doesn't matter. We're still up by two,'' one of the fans said to no one in particular after Borowski gave up a one-out, tape-measure home run to Bobby Abreu.
JoeBo, ever resilient, bounced back from getting taken deep by Abreu to dispose of playoff non-legend Alex Rodriguez.
"One more, one more,'' shouted the same guy who wrote off Abreu's bomb as no big thing.
Posada tormented JoeBo and the cheering throng at the Jake by darn near slamming another home run. The long drive to right field curved foul, barely.
Just a few second later, JoeBo closed the deal by striking out Posada.
At the Jake, fans stood, jumped, yelled, exchanged high-fives and did what Tribe fans do when playoff series are clinched and the ghosts of Cleveland sports failures past are, at least temporarily, banished.
On an unseasonably balmy night, many of the fans celebrating the ALDS clincher were children, tweens and teens too young to be carrying emotional baggage from the painful World Series losses of 1995 and 1997.
What mattered to Matt Wallin and Ashley Eleo of Twinsburg was that their Indians had taken down the Yankees and they were there, together, to savor the moment.
"I'm almost losing my voice,'' Ashley said.
"We knew they'd win. We knew it,'' Matt added.
The two teenagers, both wearing ear-to-ear-smiles, waded into a sea of joyous people heading to the exits.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Cleveland Indians playoff blog
David S. Glasier
DGlasier@News-Herald.com
For weeks, Indians veteran outfielder Kenny Lofton has been regaling younger teammates with stories about Jacobs Field at its electrifying playoff best.
Lofton, 40, is in his third tour of duty with the Tribe. This is his sixth playoff appearance as an Indian.
Now, Travis Hafner understands that Lofton wasn't exaggerating.
Sellout crowds of 44,608 and 44,732 turned out at the Jake for the first two games of the American League Division series pitting the Indians against the Yankees.
They came, they roared, they watched the Indians stake themselves to a 2-0 lead in the series with a 12-3 rout Thursday and a 2-1, 11-inning thriller Friday.
Hafner definitely heard the roar after he singled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th last night to put his team in the driver's seat of the best-of-five series.
"This has been unbelievable. In my career, I've never seen anything like it,'' Hafner said.
He hasn't heard anything like it, either.
"It's a tremendous atmosphere out there,'' he said. "We're having a blast playing right now.''
DGlasier@News-Herald.com
For weeks, Indians veteran outfielder Kenny Lofton has been regaling younger teammates with stories about Jacobs Field at its electrifying playoff best.
Lofton, 40, is in his third tour of duty with the Tribe. This is his sixth playoff appearance as an Indian.
Now, Travis Hafner understands that Lofton wasn't exaggerating.
Sellout crowds of 44,608 and 44,732 turned out at the Jake for the first two games of the American League Division series pitting the Indians against the Yankees.
They came, they roared, they watched the Indians stake themselves to a 2-0 lead in the series with a 12-3 rout Thursday and a 2-1, 11-inning thriller Friday.
Hafner definitely heard the roar after he singled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th last night to put his team in the driver's seat of the best-of-five series.
"This has been unbelievable. In my career, I've never seen anything like it,'' Hafner said.
He hasn't heard anything like it, either.
"It's a tremendous atmosphere out there,'' he said. "We're having a blast playing right now.''
Indians get over jitters in big way
The Indians threw a curveball at the baseball world Thursday night.
Against the potent, playoff-tested Yankees in the first game of the American League Division Series, it was the young, relatively inexperienced Indians who were considered more likely to stumble in the spotlight.
To the tune of a 12-3 demolition of the Bronx Bombers, the Indians demonstrated they weren't about to stumble.
To hear Tribe first baseman Ryan Garko break it down, he and his Tribe teammates quickly got over whatever pregame jitters they may have taken onto the field in front of a sellout crowd of 44,608.
"Once the first pitch as thrown, it was the same game we've been playing all our lives," Garko said.
Garko, who smashed one of the Tribe's four home runs, said he and his teammates took to heart some words of wisdom from 40-year-old left fielder Kenny Lofton.
"Kenny told us that when we get to this moment, we need to take advantage of it," Garko said.
"My biggest fear was that we were going to try to do too much out there and get away from what we've done all season," Garko added. "Fortunately, we did a good job of staying within ourselves."
Against the potent, playoff-tested Yankees in the first game of the American League Division Series, it was the young, relatively inexperienced Indians who were considered more likely to stumble in the spotlight.
To the tune of a 12-3 demolition of the Bronx Bombers, the Indians demonstrated they weren't about to stumble.
To hear Tribe first baseman Ryan Garko break it down, he and his Tribe teammates quickly got over whatever pregame jitters they may have taken onto the field in front of a sellout crowd of 44,608.
"Once the first pitch as thrown, it was the same game we've been playing all our lives," Garko said.
Garko, who smashed one of the Tribe's four home runs, said he and his teammates took to heart some words of wisdom from 40-year-old left fielder Kenny Lofton.
"Kenny told us that when we get to this moment, we need to take advantage of it," Garko said.
"My biggest fear was that we were going to try to do too much out there and get away from what we've done all season," Garko added. "Fortunately, we did a good job of staying within ourselves."
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