The Lofton effect

Max Ramirez might turn out to be a big-league catcher one day. He hit .308 with 16 home runs in high-A ball this past season. But the Cleveland Indians aren't likely to regret trading him to the Texas Rangers in July.

That's because they got Kenny Lofton back for a third stint with the team in return, a deal that's paid some serious dividends already. A playoff veteran on a team of postseason neophytes, the Indians probably don't beat the Red Sox without Lofton on Monday, when he hit a two-run home run in the second inning of Cleveland's 4-2 victory, giving them a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.

"He's a big-game player. He likes the stage," said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge in a Minneapolis Star Tribune story. "He understands how to slow himself down. He understands just what it takes to have the right heartbeat. ... Our first game here at home in this series, that [homer] really got us kick started."

It's astounding that Lofton has moved around so much, considering he's found himself in the postseason in every season except two since 1995. Lofton has made the playoffs with six different teams, and this is his sixth playoffs with Cleveland alone. And, like seemingly the city's sports teams, he has to feel cursed. He was with the Giants when they lost the Angels in the 2002 World Series. In 2003, he was with the Cubs when Steve Bartman ruined Chicago's chances in the NLCS. In 2004, Lofton was with the Yankees when Boston made the only comeback from a 3-0 deficit in history. He has almost 400 postseason at-bats with no ring to show for it.

A commercial for a shipping company makes light of Lofton's travels, an endorsement he has no problem with. But he's most indentified with Cleveland, which is why this postseason run is special to him at age 40.

"I can look at Cleveland as the team that showed the baseball world who Kenny Lofton really is," he told the Chicago Tribune. "Because of the years I had in Cleveland, when they think of Kenny Lofton, they think of Cleveland. So I feel very honored and proud to say that Cleveland is the team that made me who I am as a baseball player."