1. Home
  2. Sports
  3. Baseball
photo of Scott Kendrick

Scott's Baseball Blog

By Scott Kendrick, About.com Guide to Baseball

Clear favorites

Saturday October 13, 2007

With the Red Sox's domination in the first game of the American League Championship Series and the Rockies' 2-0 lead in the National League, it's getting easier to project what the World Series might look like.

The Indians' downfall was in plain sight in Game 1: C.C. Sabathia had no clue against the middle of the Red Sox's order. From two through six, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell and Bobby Kielty reached safely 12 times in 15 plate appearances against the Cleveland ace, who simply didn't have it. The Indians didn't retire Ortiz and Ramirez once in all 10 plate appearances.

"They had some good at-bats. They did a good job,'' Sabathia told ESPN.com. "But normally I go out and make teams chase pitches. I make them swing the bat, and I didn't do that tonight. The second inning [when he struck out the side] I was aggressive and threw my pitches in the zone, and the rest of the game I didn't do that.''

Sabathia threw an MLB-high 241 innings in the regular season and could be running out of gas.

If the Indians are going to make this a series, they'll need a great start today from second-year starter Fausto Carmona, who dazzled the Yankees in the Division Series. He'll face Curt Schilling. In the National League, the Rockies are the team that's coming through in the clutch, and Colorado's pitching has risen to the occasion. The Rockies keep getting big outs in big situations, turning what looked like a weakness into a strength.

And 19 wins in 20 games? Absolutely crazy. And every move that Clint Hurdle makes is coming through. Putting center fielder Willy Taveras back into the lineup after a month on the disabled list looked like a dangerous disruption of a team on a roll, but Taveras has contributed in both wins. He walked to force in the winning run in the 11th inning of Game 2.

Cutline: Starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians talks with catcher Victor Martinez in the third inning of Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Oct. 12, 2007 in Boston. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Comments

No comments yet. Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment

Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

Explore Baseball

About.com Special Features

Learn to Pitch

Strike out the competition with these step-by-step pictorials. More >

Introduction to Pilates

Learning Pilates fundamentals can help you get the most out of your exercise regime. More >

  1. Home
  2. Sports
  3. Baseball

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.