Red Sox plead the fifth

An old-fashioned pitcher's duel turned sour in the fifth inning again for the Boston Red Sox, who teeter on the brink of elimination following the Cleveland Indians' 7-3 victory in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series in Cleveland.

Dazzling through four innings, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield didn't make it through a bottom of the fifth that lasted 35 minutes. The Indians scored all seven of their runs, getting homers from Casey Blake and Jhonny Peralta in the rally.

Two trends were evident: It was the second seven-run inning of the series for Cleveland, and the third game in a row that the Red Sox starter was knocked out after exactly 4 2/3 innings. Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka fell into the same trap. That's never going to get it done in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, old-school veteran Paul Byrd, he of the Warren Spahn windup, shut down the Red Sox until the top of the sixth. Byrd is the definition of a crafty pitcher. Every pitch looks like batting practice, but he works the angles and never seems to throw the ball where he doesn't want it to go.

But with so much down time while the Indians hit in the fifth, Byrd lost his rhythm and Boston came back in the sixth with back-to-back-to-back homers by Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, who decided to pose for his former fans in Cleveland after connecting on the homer in the most selfish, bush-league celebration of the playoffs. (You might hold the postseason homer record, Manny, but your team was still down four runs.) If Ramirez does that in the regular season, a high, hard one would be buzzing his head the next time around the order. But with so much at stake, the Indians didn't retaliate.

And at that point, solo home runs weren't too damaging. Middle relievers Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt brought the game home for the Indians, who are one win from their first World Series appearance in 10 years.

They'll take a day off Wednesday, and resume on Thursday with the aces back on the mound. C.C. Sabathia goes for the Indians, and postseason marvel Josh Beckett will throw for Boston. Sabathia looked terrible in his Game 1 start, and Beckett has a 4-0 postseason record with a 1.87 ERA in eight appearances. This series is far from over.

Photo: Cleveland's Rafael Betancourt celebrates after closing out the Indians' 7-3 victory on Oct. 16 at Jacobs Field in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)