October,13 2007-Fenway Park, Indians vs. Red Sox, Game 2 Of The 2007 ALCS

Carmona vs. Schilling

Final 11th1234567891011RHECleveland (1-1) «1003110000713170Boston (1-1)003030000006100

Cleveland IndiansHittersABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVGGrady Sizemore, CF5331100.346Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B5110111.200Travis Hafner, DH5020004.292    Josh Barfield, PR-DH0000000.000   a- Trot Nixon, PH-DH1011000.600    Jason Michaels, PR-DH01000001.000Victor Martinez, C4231210.360Ryan Garko, 1B6221005.368Jhonny Peralta, SS5334120.458Kenny Lofton, LF6010003.346Franklin Gutierrez, RF6114011.150Casey Blake, 3B6000041.154Totals4913171259 

Boston Red SoxHittersABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVGDustin Pedroia, 2B4110121.190    Jacoby Ellsbury, PR0000000.000    Alex Cora, 2B0000000.000Kevin Youkilis, 1B4010113.300David Ortiz, DH4210101.615Manny Ramirez, LF4113111.429Mike Lowell, 3B5123010.353J.D. Drew, RF5020002.222Jason Varitek, C5000022.143Coco Crisp, CF5120010.263Julio Lugo, SS4000122.222Totals406106510 

Cleveland IndiansPitchersIPHRERBBSOHRERAFausto Carmona44445503.46Rafael Perez0.13220024.26Jensen Lewis2.10000103.60Rafael Betancourt2.11000300.00Thomas Mastny (W,1-0)10000000.00Joe Borowski12000102.25

Boston Red SoxPitchersIPHRERBBSOHRERACurt Schilling4.29550323.86Manny Delcarmen0.21111004.50Hideki Okajima1.21001300.00Mike Timlin10000000.00Jonathan Papelbon21001100.00Eric Gagne (L,0-1)0.112211011.57Javier Lopez023310027.00Jon Lester0.222201127.00

Gamechanger- Trot Nixon killing his former team with a single up the middle.

Play(s) Of The Game- Peralta tearing the cover off the ball for the whole game.

What Happened?

Well, many things took place during this juggernaut of a ballgame. Except good pitching. Like in Game 1, the Indians came out with guns a blazin. 2 doubles gave the Indians an early 1-0 lead. This time though, the Red Sox did not answer back. At least not right away. They would stay quiet until the bottom of the 3rd, when Carmona started to wear down in a hurry. Crisp lead off with a single and then stole second base as Lugo struck out swinging. After walking Pedroia, Carmona struck out Youk for 2 out. But here comes Ortiz. You have to give him something to hit because then you have Manny waiting afew feet away. So here is Ortiz, the clutch monster who smashes balls into the Fenway crowd like it's a bodily function.  And he does something completely different(get ready for this): He's safe on an infield single.  

All say that sentence again: David Ortiz reached on an infield single. Not a sentence uttered too much. Anyway, Manny is up next. And the same thing happens today that happened yesterday. Manny walks with the bases full to force in a run. Lowell then gives the Red Sox their first lead of the game with a 2 run single. In the next inning, the Indians took the lead right back with a 3 run HR from Peralta. Peralta was in the zone last night, every ball that he hit was a rocket. Curt Schilling and Carmona both pitched like they were very tired. Curt Schilling was the first to hit the bench after he gave up another solo shot to Sizemore.

But, like always, the Red Sox got right back up. Manny hit a 2 run HR into right center, and with that took the record for most postseason HR's away from the great Bernie Williams. 3 pitches later, it was 6-5 as Lowell hit a monsterious fly ball to left. Back to back HR's now gave the Red Sox their second lead of the game. The Indians tied it again in the top of the 6th. This game looked like it would end 14-13 by the 9th inning. But a funny thing happened: the bullpens completely shutdown both offenses after the 6th inning. The good thing for the Indians was their bullpen wasn't used as much as the Red Sox bullpen. For instance, the Red Sox had to put their closer Papelbon in the 9th with the game still tied. So when the the Red Sox had to take Papelbon out in the 11th, it spelled trouble.

Eric Gange began the inning. So you already know the Indians got at least 2 guys on base. After getting those 2 guys on, Trot Nixon comes in to pinch hit for Barfield. Nixon, the former Red Sox has struggled this year. But today, he got the big hit. Driving a single up the middle to give the Indians a 7-6 lead. They were nowhere close to done. After a wild pitch scored another run, Garko singled to center getting another run across.. John Lester came in to stop the bleeding, but only made it worse. Giving up a RBI double to Peralta(who had 4 RBIs in the game) and then, here's the kicker, a 2 run shot to Gutierrez(who also had 4 RBI's in the game). This blew the contest open.

Lugo grounded out in the bottom of the 11th to end the game as...

Indians 13 Red Sox 6

Next Game:

Game 3, Dice K(0-0,5.79) vs. Westbrook(0-1,10.80)

Pick:

After a crazy game like the one last night, another crazy game doesn't seem that...well....crazy. This will be another high scoring affair possibly. Both pitchers have not looked good but since they are in Cleveland and Dice-K has struggled in big games, the Indians take Game Three, 8-4.

I'm done.