The Indians had better finish this off tonight...

Well, we're 6-5 favorites , us Red Sox.

Any word anywhere concerning the substantialosityness of Beckett not being 100% due to a lower back issue, or something?

This better be a good game... I'm expecting a close game, maybe 4-3 or something. I'm rooting for the Indians, but I don't really care who wins in the playoffs as long as I can watch a good tight game.

Emailed to me this morning by my friend:

Francona is my shepherd; I shall not fear.
He maketh me to calm down in late innings:
He leadeth me beside the bug-infested waters of the Jake.
He restoreth my confidence:
He leadeth me in the basepaths of Cleveland for the Nation’s sake.
Yea, though Delcarmen walks three in a row,
I will fear no hit batter: For Papelbon art with me;
Manny’s bat and Papi’s bat, they comfort me.
Beckett preparest a shutout before me in the presence of the Indians;
Lowell annointest our heads with Gatorade; My cup runneth over.
Surely Red Sox victories without mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will cheer in the House by the Fens forever.
And the Yankees suck. Amen.

Whatifsports.com simulation (note: Like everything, the computer is not perfect, therefore, take these results with a grain of salt. Also, Whatifsports.com has larger rosters then the playoff rosters, including players who are not on the team. For example, Boston has this habit of putting in Joel Pineiro. When he goes in and blows the game, I'll just substitute his name with Eric Gagne's)


1: Red Sox 2-1 in 11. After Papelbon inexplicably blew a save in the 9th, the Red Sox bullpen was able to recover and keep the Indians scoreless in the 10th, and, after a Lowell home run, the 11th.

2: Indians 9-6 as Victor Martinez drives in 3.

3: Red Sox 5-2 as Beckett strikes out 13 and Papelbon gets the save.

4: Red Sox 6-4 as Pedroia wakes up and drives in 3.

5: Red Sox 5-3 on a 9th inning Ortiz homer.

6: Red Sox 11-7 as Veritek drives in 4.

7: Indians 9-2 as Asdrubal Cabrera drives in 3.

8: Red Sox 6-3 as Beckett strikes out 10 and Lowell homers.

9: Indians 4-1 as Sabathia goes a complete game.

10: Indians 1-0 in 10. This was the most unbelievable game that WISports gave me. For one thing, it had Sabathia, get this, going all 10 innings (he had 114 pitches, BTW). The Red Sox had a total of 1 extra base hit (a double by Youkilis) and the way the game ended with this play (men on 1st and second, 0 outs, Okajima in, Hafner at the plate):

T.Hafner hits a groundball single to RF. J.Drew's throw is off the mark up the 1B line and G.Sizemore scores.

A shame that it doesn't describe how "off the mark" Drew's throw was, because this gave me a mental image of him totally missing and then Boston fans yelling so loudly that every window in New England broke.


Anyway....

Red Sox would win 6 out of 10 times, according to WIsports.

does whatif do home field advantage?

Well, sort of. Whatif does take into account the fact that the Indians are home, so they get last-ups and such, but there's no way it could take into account crowd noise, creative groundskeeping, midges etc.

I tried the same thing and the Red Sox won the majority of the time. Then again, the What if guys are from Cincinnati - maybe they knock down the Indians chances as part of an intrastate rivalry thing.

LET'S GO RED SOX

Win tonight with Beckett, and then the next two games are in Boston.

LINEUPS:

Red Sox

1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Bobby Kielty, RF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS

SP - Josh Beckett

Indians

1. Grady Sizemore, CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
3. Travis Hafner, DH
4. Victor Martinez, C
5. Ryan Garko, 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta, SS
7. Kenny Lofton, LF
8. Franklin Gutierrez, RF
9. Casey Blake, 3B

SP - C.C. Sabathia

------

Still no Ellsbury.

The really annoying thing about the tabloid dust-up is that now I'm going to be rooting too emotionally for Manny to show all those idiots up.

Luckily, it won't affect Manny.

(Those are from Amalie Benjamin's report on the Globe blog.)

Um, off-topic, but am I the only one just seeing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Zkz2pUt_g

It's Win and Regine from the Arcade Fire playing "Keep the Car Running" with The Boss at a Springsteen concert. News to me.

Anyway, thought Phil and others would appreciate it if they hadn't seen it already. I love the excitement of the cell-phone-cameramen (or someone nearby).

Indians 1-0 in 10. This was the most unbelievable game that WISports gave me

You must not have believed the 1991 World Series :)

Still no Ellsbury.

Well, of course not. He's cast in the role of "Dave Roberts."

Thanks PJ, that is sweet.

Gonna watch this with Lu who at 36.5 weeks can barely move.

Enjoy the game everyone, fingers crossed.

It's Win and Regine from the Arcade Fire playing "Keep the Car Running" with The Boss at a Springsteen concert. News to me.

That's brilliant. Damn.

Did you see Springsteen and Arcade Fire doing "State Trooper", too?

Both amazing song choices.

And it's cool that both parties recognize the clear genealogical connections between their music. Jody Rosen at Slate - best music critic going, imo - had a cool article on the topic.

Will read that later

Arcade Fire has pissed me off greatly by coming to Australia and playing at a dumb festival called the big day out

Wow, "State Trooper"-- even better. Thanks for that.

SPIN is taking credit for the occasion: http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/10/071015_springsteen_arcadefire/

Alright, time for some Beckett. Hope he's not hurting.

Matt Holliday is a conehead!

It ain't over yet, folks. Sabathia may be gassed after all his innings this year. He's a big fat guy. And then the weather looks good in Boston this weekend...70's, should be a hitters wind.

#20-yeah, he should be a competative swimmer,--man's got a natural bow for a head!

Millar. Weird.

I don't dislike this guy like some people do. He did draw one of the biggest walks in team history.

I think that was a nice touch. Would have been better if they had some ex-Indian, too.

I kind of like Millar. They don't shock the planet without his enthusiasm way back when.

Will we get to see Beckett's ex? Or did that happen during the pre-game show?

McCarver reminds me just a little of Alan Thicke.

26-funny. He's a cross bt. Thicke and Burgess Meredith?

I miss Bobby Kielty's crazy hair.

Dusty-take a few?

Youkilis has been very good this postseason.

If Manny cared more he would have hit a homerun.

Tell it, Tim?

Oops. Should Lofton mis-read that, yes? Thought he could catch it, I guess.

McCarver is being extremely douchey even by his high standards.

I have happily all the Manny-related Sturm und Drang today. But from the first-inning commentary, I suspect it may carry over into the broadcast.

That play may get eaten up by the "Manny doesn't care" brigade.

I think Manny may have tweaked a hammy. He looks like he has a bit of a hitch.

manny wasnt so close there

Aw, nuts

34: happily avoided

####### hell. A single, double, and a homerun, and yet only 1 run scored.

The Cleveland weather people are saying there may be more bugs tonight.

"G-Size"? "T-Pronk"? "K-Lo"? Godawful.

Casey being Casey.

Again with that awful feedback. Fox is so shitty it hurts.

I hate this series.

Actually Manny was running hard, Gutierrez just has a cannon.

time for Travis to return to form

There is no way Asdruabal is only 21 and has played less than 50 games in the bigs.

Actually Manny was running hard, Gutierrez just has a cannon

Maybe not the smartest wave from the 3b coach there.

You're killin' me, Pronk. I'll take the run, though.

I'll take it, definitely. Now get Victor.

They're seeing that fastball, seems like.

Evening, all. Morning, Phil.

Heard on WEEI earlier: Great to have baseball back again tonight. I forgot how many Octobers there are. Are there two Octobers? Three Octobers? I can't remember... someone please tell me!

They may have stolen that joke from Bill Simmons. Not that it takes a genius to come up with it, or anything.

Manny should have slid, though he'd probably still have been out. Was Lowell signaling slide?

Hey, any news about Frank TV?

JD Drew could never have done that!

Oooh, not sure about strike three there. Too close to take?

I guess this ump has a wide zone on the left side of the plate.

I'm here! What was that about Wahoo?

I kid, I kid.

Seems as if everyone should have more runs, but doesn't.

More feedback, please.

So, was Wedge implying that Sabathia couldn't handle the pressure (which has now eased with the 3-1 lead)? Doesn't seem like the coolest thing for a manager to say-- but, of course, I didn't hear the context.

Where did that miss? Weird.

I think that even surprised Varitek.

Sox get a break with Varitek reaching.

You Sox fans going to complain about Varitek not moving out of the way like you did about Garko? Didn't think so.

Sox get a break with Varitek reaching.

Makes up for the strike three call on Kielty.

It's time for a Crisp home run, but with him doing Manny's pose. In fact, I think the entire team should adopt it. Especally JD Drew.

He was checking his swing, Bernal. Garko turned into the pitch with his front shoulder.

"You Sox fans going to complain about Varitek not moving out of the way like you did about Garko? Didn't think so."

It was ball four either way. I don't think Varitek wanted it to hit him.

I eagerly await the Ellsbury era.

Is it ok to root for Beckett to get shelled, but to have Boston win so that there is a game 6?

Yeah that's about what I expected.

"Yeah that's about what I expected."

Logical responses? Seriously, your argument, such as it is, doesn't make sense. Varitek leaned into ball four? Why would he do that?

Three more years!
Three more years!
Three more years!

How difficult is it for Buck to pronounce Gutierrez?

History is always happening right now.

You Sox fans going to complain about Varitek not moving out of the way like you did about Garko?

Yes... Since I didn't complain about Garko not moving out of the way.

Yeah that's about what I expected.

What PJ Martinez said. Are you saying that it wouldn't have been ball four?

Ah, ONE October. Got it now.

Beckett's facial hair is getting to the point where he looks like he missed a spot shaving.

Why did they choose a white towel? Of all the colors to choose why white?

Whoa.

BA

Why does Josh Beckett blame Franklin Gutierrez for the decision to have his ex sing the national anthem?

His ex? Who sang?

If you're going to brush a guy back, have the decency to then strike him out. Please?

Ahhhhhh the beard is up! This is like a horror film.

His ex? Who sang?

some country music singer

McCarver slowed down there, like he knew he was digging a very deep hole with what he was saying but couldn't escape.

Did Beckett say something to Gutierrez on his way off the field?

Yeah, I'd love to know what was said...

Classic Pedroia.

I wonder if Beckett chose Gutierrez for any reason in particular.

That 2-1 to Pedroia looked pretty good.

I know the guy in the red an white jacket in the first row there when they show righties. Should I call him?

YAY DUSTIN!

Here comes the Torre/Yankees talk...

Yes. Get him to wave at you when they show him.

I will see what I can do.

Got voicemail.

I guess the ump abandoned the inside strike.