Baseball

Behind some great pitching by Josh Beckett, the Red Sox downed the Indians, 7-1, Thursday night in Game 5 of the ALCS. Beckett added another superb start to an already Hall of Fame-caliber postseason portfolio by shutting down the Indians for the second time in this series. With Beckett's gem, the Sox staved off postseason elimination and sent the ALCS back to Boston for Game 6 on Saturday. If these guys keep this up, a deciding Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday. A World Series berth awaits the winner. This ALCS is now the first of the 2007 postseason series to go more than one game past the minimum. Four of the series, in fact, have been sweeps, including the National League Championship Series between the Rockies, now the NL champs, and Diamondbacks. After a 7-3 Cleveland victory on Tuesday put the Indians up three games to one, things looked awfully bleak for this series, too. But Beckett, rumored to be struggling with a stiff back after an abbreviated six-inning, 80-pitch win in Game 1 of the ALCS, was instead his dominating self, throwing eight innings of five-hit ball, punching pitches up to the plate at 97 mph and baffling the Indians' hitters with knee-breaking curves and a devastating splitter. Beckett, a 20-game winner during the regular season and one of the leading contenders for the AL's Cy Young Award, struck out 11 batters. In his three October starts this year, he is now 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA. In eight career postseason starts, Beckett is 5-2 with a 1.75 ERA. Oh, and about Cleveland getting country singer Danielle Peck, an old flame of Beckett's, to sing at Jacobs Field...if they were trying to get in Beckett's head, they failed. His take was, "I don't get paid to make those [expletive] decisions. She's a friend of mine. That doesn't bother me at all. Thanks for flying one of my friends to the game so she could watch it for free."

Kevin Youkilis popped a home run off of Cleveland's suddenly vulnerable ace, C.C. Sabathia, in the first inning and a strange, windblown -- and probably poorly played -- triple off Sabathia later in the game. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia, in an awful series slump, had a pair of hits and a walk. Ortiz drove in a couple of runs.

Seems I'm not the only person in Boston who is fed up with Manny being Manny. Nothing a cattle prod couldn't sort out, though. After failing to slide on a play at the plate that resulted in the final out of Boston's first inning, Ramirez knocked in a run with a near homer in the third on a controversial umpiring call. Ramirez's hit appeared to bounce off the yellow line on top of the right field wall, which is why the umpires didn't call it a home run; the ground rules state the ball has to clear the yellow line. But Manny stood at home plate admiring his hit, instead of actually running the bases. He earns how much a year, and he can't bother to make any effort to run if he thinks there is any chance he's either hit a home run or a certain out. And that attitude has backfired on him several times. Luckily it didn't cost the Red Sox the game this time, but for crying out loud, it's the ALCS, pull your head out and make some effort for a change. I stand by what I said about this lump a couple years ago, he should have been traded, but nobody else wanted him, not with his attitude and that salary. At least I'm certain there is no way he'll be resigned when his contract is up in a couple more years. I don't care how many home runs he hits, he's a drag. How about this...Manny gets NO pay for the entire series, and ticket prices can be lowered at Fenway.