One Moment In Time

In the midst of all of the ex-girlfriends singing the National Anthem, the bench-clearing brawls, and the inability of the Indians’ hitters to figure out Josh Beckett, Game 5 boiled down to one decision.

In the bottom of the 6th, as C.C. miraculously pulled his way through another inning while minimizing damage, the talk in the Mezzanine turned to how the Atomic Wedgie would set up the final three innings. With the top of the order coming up, could Jensen Lewis work an inning with LH Ortiz three hitters away, or would Raffy Perez work better in anticipation of Ortiz’s AB?

As I returned from the Mens’ Room (trust me, I never miss a pitch), the DiaBride was the first to point out that the pitcher standing on the mound with the ball to start the 7th looked like C.C. That must be a mistake, right? He had thrown over 100 pitches and had labored throughout, lucking into keeping the Indians in the game against the real Ace in the game, Beckett.

But there he stood (kind of hard to mistake C.C. for anyone else on the team), ready to face Dustin Pedroia and the top of the Red Sox lineup, pitch count and results be damned, in a 2-1 game that the Indians were (amazingly) still squarely in.

Of course, we all know how this ended, with Pedroia hitting a double and Youkilis hitting a triple before Sabathia was (finally and mercifully) pulled for Betancourt. And, despite Senor Slo-Mo’s best efforts, the damage was done and the game was lost.

Not to go all Tom Hamiliton, but “Ballgame”.

The most disturbing thing outside of Wedge’s decision to stick with C.C. is not even that he decided to use “ride with the horses that got him to the party” strategy that has served him so well throughout the postseason, but the way he handled the bullpen after the floodgates had opened. Down 2-1, or even 4-1, one would think that Wedge would play to win; instead his sequential order in the bullpen (which had worked exceedingly well) was out the window and the Indians were simply trying to stop the bleeding.

Whether or not the Indians would have been able to put more runs on the board against Beckett (who was simply dealing…as an “Ace” does) and Papelbon is secondary. The game was lost when Wedge allowed C.C. to stride to the mound in the 7th to face the top of the Boston lineup.

With that mistake staring the Tribe in the face, they head to Boston to try to close out the ALCS in enemy territory.
Let’s hope that Fausto is able to make the adjustments that C.C. simply wasn’t.