The Beatles

I must admit that I'm finding it a bit difficult to get fired up for the Indians series. Maybe the 4-day break between series has my angst stuck in idle, ready to roar from 0-60 on Friday evening. Perhaps the ease with which the Sox dispatched the Angels has fostered a sense of security. Or, (and here's where we have to start being honest with ourselves) like many (most?) Sox fans, even the ones who won't admit it, the sigh of relief I breathed after the Yankees fell to the Tribe is still lingering.

All of the above is probably the correct bubble to color on the test sheet. Fortunately, I and millions of like-minded Red Sox fans won't be the ones that will decide the outcome of the ALCS. In Tito we trust, especially in the postseason.

Another factor in my motivational malaise is the fact that I like the Indians club, except for that former Yankee bastard Kenny Lofton. I can't work up a healthy disdain for any of the rest of them - they seem like good guys who enjoy the game and play hard. Hell, Trot Nixon's on their roster - the Original Dirt DogTM. It's quite impossible to properly hate these guys?

So I'll keep working on the motivation angle. In service of that search for mojo, I'll hearken back to the last postseason game played between these two squads, Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS, which took place 8 years ago tomorrow. Without exaggeration, it featured the single gutsiest pitching performance I've ever witnessed. The Sox trailed the Tribe 8-7 after 3 innings, with both teams unable to get anyone out. The Sox had won Games 3 and 4 by a combined 32-10 count, including a record-setting 23-7 clubbing in Game 4 - pitching was not exactly at a premium.

After the Sox scored a single in the top of the 4th to tie the game, Pedro Martinez made the long walk from the bullpen to take the ball. Pedro's arm had been bothering him over the season's final months, and he'd only managed 4 innings in Game 1 of the series. His appearance in this game was nothing so much as desperation on the part of the Sox. 3 innings of hold-the-line relief would have been manna from heaven. Instead, the little gladiator gutted his way through 6 shutout, make that no-hit shutout innings with nothing but a few threads holding his shoulder together. It was an epic, legend-securing performance, the one Peter Gammons calls upon again and again to define Pedro's duende. It was the greatest one-man show I've seen in baseball - inning after inning he defied the Indian bats despite not having his normal arsenal of incendiary stuff. I've got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Boston Red Sox 12, Cleveland Indians 8

Division Series Game 5 Played on Monday, October 11, 1999 (N) at Jacobs Field
BOS A 2 0 5 1 0 0 3 0 1 - 12 10 0
CLE A 3 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 8 7 1

BATTING
Boston Red Sox
AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Offerman 2b 4 0 1 0 1 0 2 1
Valentin 3b 4 2 1 2 0 0 0 2
Daubach dh 5 2 3 0 0 0 0 0
Sadler pr,dh 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Garciaparra ss 3 3 2 3 2 1 2 4
O'Leary lf 4 2 2 7 1 1 0 0
Stanley 1b 4 0 0 0 1 3 10 1
Varitek c 5 0 0 0 0 1 10 0
Lewis cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
Nixon rf 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
Saberhagen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lowe p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
P. Martinez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals 36 12 10 12 6 7 27 8

BATTING -
2B: Daubach 2 (2,off Nagy,off Jackson); Lewis (1,off Nagy); Garciaparra (2,off
Jackson).
HR: Garciaparra (2,1st inning off Nagy 1 on 2 out); O'Leary 2 (2,3rd inning
off Nagy 3 on 1 out,7th inning off Shuey 2 on 1 out).
SF: Valentin (1,off DePaula).
IBB: Garciaparra 2 (2,by Nagy,by Shuey); O'Leary (1,by Jackson).
Team LOB: 4.

Cleveland Indians
AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Lofton cf 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Roberts cf 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 0
Vizquel ss 5 1 1 1 0 1 2 1
R. Alomar 2b 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 5
Ramirez rf 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Thome 1b 4 2 2 4 0 2 8 0
Baines dh 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Cordero lf 4 1 1 0 0 2 3 0
Fryman 3b 4 1 1 2 0 0 0 2
S. Alomar c 2 0 0 0 1 1 7 0
Wilson ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nagy p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
DePaula p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shuey p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jackson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 34 8 7 8 4 10 27 9

FIELDING -
E: S. Alomar (1).

BATTING -
2B: Vizquel (1,off Saberhagen); R. Alomar (4,off Lowe); Ramirez (1,off Lowe).
HR: Thome 2 (4,1st inning off Saberhagen 1 on 2 out,3rd inning off Lowe 1 on
0 out); Fryman (1,2nd inning off Saberhagen 1 on 0 out).
Team LOB: 3.

BASERUNNING -
SB: Lofton (2,2nd base off Saberhagen/Varitek).

PITCHING
Boston Red Sox
IP H R ER BB SO HR
Saberhagen 1 4 5 5 1 0 2
Lowe 2 3 3 3 0 2 1
P. Martinez W(1-0) 6 0 0 0 3 8 0
Totals 9 7 8 8 4 10 3

Saberhagen faced 2 batters in the 2nd inning

Cleveland Indians
IP H R ER BB SO HR
Nagy 3 6 8 7 2 2 2
DePaula 3 0 0 0 2 2 0
Shuey L(1-1) 2 2 3 3 1 2 1
Jackson 1 2 1 1 1 1 0
Totals 9 10 12 11 6 7 3

Nagy faced 1 batter in the 4th inning

IBB: Nagy (1,Garciaparra); Shuey (1,Garciaparra); Jackson (1,O'Leary).
Umpires: John Shulock, Durwood Merrill, Jim Joyce, Chuck Meriwether, Tim Welke, Jim McKean
Time of Game: 3:12 Attendance: 45114