ALCS Game 5: Red Sox 7 Indians 1

In tonight's ALCS Game 5 it was the Red Sox ace Josh Beckett who definitely brought his A game against the Cleveland Indians. The Indians even had Beckett's ex-girlfriend Danielle Peck sing the National Anthem and "God Bless America" but it wasn't enough to throw the Red Sox righthander off his game. Beckett threw an amazing 11 strikeouts through 8 innings to keep the Indians in check and allow his team to get a "do or die" win to continue the series. Early on the game was deadlocked. In the first inning, Cleveland's Travis Haffner grounded out but was able to drive home Cabrera to give the Indians the early 1-0 lead. The Red Sox' Kevin Youkilis tied things up in the first inning with a solo homerun off Indians pitcher CC Sabathia. Sabathia finished with 6 strikeouts in 6 innings, but allowed 4 runs giving him an 8.80 ERA for the game.

In the third inning, Boston's Manny Ramirez had a near homerun as the ball just hit off the top of the yellow line out in centerfield. Regardless of the near homerun, Ramirez had an important RBI single off this hit, driving home David Ortiz to give the Red Sox the early 2-1 lead. Beckett continued his solid pitching from here keeping the Indians from adding to their run total. In the 7th inning, Boston's Kevin Youkilis added yet another RBI as he hit a triple driving home Cadroya and adding to the Sox lead. David Ortiz added a sacrifice fly RBI for yet another run as Youkilis crossed the plate. The Sox bats gave Josh Beckett some breathing room as they took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Beckett continued his dominance, picking up his 10th strikeout of the game.

In the 8th, Indians pitcher Rafael Perez took the mound to relieve Sabathia. Perez had a bad throw to second, allowing two Red Sox to remain on base. Boston's Lugo added another single to load the bases and then a fastball got through the hands of Indians catcher Victor Martinez. This allowed yet another Boston run to score, making it a 5-1 game. A Kevin Youkalis walk with the bases loaded was followed by a David Ortiz sacrifice fly to make it 7-1. Beckett (3-0) added his 11th strikeout in the bottom of the 8th, and Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Papelbon closed things out in the 9th picking up the save. Now the ALCS will return to Boston as the Sox try to even things up and force a Game 7.

The Red Sox should now have momentum as they return to Fenway Park in Boston. Game 6 will feature Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling taking the mound. Schilling is 1-0 in the playoffs with a 3.86 ERA and has a total of 7 strikeouts. On the opposing side, 6-foot-4 Fausto Carmona will throw for the Indians. Carmona has thrown 10 strikeouts in 13 innings this postseason with a 3.46 ERA. The Red Sox will need solid pitching from Curt Schilling to keep the Indians from blowing the game wide open as they did in Game 2.

The Indians have dominated this series so the Red Sox will also need to have their 3 best batters put in big performances again. Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis will once again be the main keys to victory, as the Red Sox lower part of the lineup has struggled. Ortiz leads all American League batters with a .500 batting average in the playoffs, followed by teammate Manny Ramirez at .429, making them a dangerous duo to pitch against. However, if the Indians batters such as Travis Haffner, Jhonny Peralta, Ryan Garko and Grady Sizemore are able to break the game open due to poor pitching as in their three victories, it will be trouble for the Red Sox. This will be another do or die situation for Boston, as the Indians look to make a return trip to the World Series and face the Colorado Rockies.