CLEVELAND.
Something to love about this American League Championship Series: Paul Byrd.
Byrd is baseball’s everyman, a regular guy who just happens to make about $8 million a year. On Tuesday night, he got the win that gave the Indians a 3-1 series lead over the Red Sox.
Indians manager Eric Wedge started Byrd instead of ace C.C. Sabathia on short rest in Game 4 of the division series, a game in which Byrd held the Yankees to two runs over five innings in a series-clinching 6-4 victory.
Byrd’s reaction was typical.
“I think the whole world wanted C.C. out on the mound, everybody except for my mom, Eric Wedge and my wife,” he said. “So the fact that he went with me, it made me feel really good. I can sit there and get angry and say I don’t get any respect and I want to prove everybody wrong. That’s not me. I’d rather be focused on proving a few people right.”
And then there was this comment about his windup: “That’s sort of my trademark, and in a very average career that’s something that I’ve become known for a little bit.”
There is nothing average about a professional athlete who is self-deprecating like this, especially a pitcher who won 17 games one year and nearly 100 over his career. It is refreshing and makes you want nothing but good things for Paul Byrd.
Something to hate about this American League Championship Series: Manny Ramirez.
I know the whole home run strut has been chalked up over the years to Manny being Manny. Everyone has come to accept it, and I’m not particularly big on baseball protocol.
His move Tuesday night after sending one over the wall, however, was too much.
Manny stood at home plate with arms raised high to watch the ball, then walked one, two, three, four, five, six, seven steps before actually starting his home-run trot — a one-run home run that only made the score 7-3 Indians.
If it had been a game-winning home run, would Manny even have bothered to run around the bases?
If they have a good lead late in the game tonight and Manny comes up, I would love to see Manny use those arms to brush the dirt off his uniform after being forced to hit the ground at home plate.
Something to love about this American League Championship Series: Kenny Lofton.
He’s not exactly warm and fuzzy, but for Indians fans it is a special treat to watch Lofton. He was part of those great Indians teams of the 1990s, and now at age 40 he’s back in a Cleveland uniform, playing a key role in the postseason, hitting home runs and stealing bases.
The fans chant, “Kenny, Kenny.” Lofton, who spent much of his career being surly, has embraced it — typical of the athlete who learns to say hello when it is time to say goodbye.
“The fans are pretty excited when I come up to the plate, and that’s a good thing for me,” Lofton said. “I just try to enjoy it. And I also try to do something. Once you’ve got the fans out there cheering for you, you want to make something happen.”
Something to hate about this American League Championship Series: recalling the 3-0 deficit the Red Sox faced in the 2004 series against the New York Yankees.
“We know where we are. … There’s some guys in there that have been in this situation before,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, referring, of course, to the Red Sox’s comeback three years ago. “And the best way I think all of us know to go about our business is to play the next game. Put that on our radar and try and take care of the next game. You start trying to look ahead, it can look a little overwhelming. Just play the game that’s in front of us, and that’s the only thing that matters right now.”
This is not Yankees-Red Sox. There is no dramatic history, no karma at work, no Bambino curse here. And these are not the 2004 Red Sox. The spare parts surrounding the big bats of Manny and David Ortiz are not as good as they were three years ago. There is no Dave Roberts, no Trot Nixon (now in an Indians uniform), no Pedro, no Derek Lowe.
There is, however, the Red Sox’s $103 million mistake, Daisuke Matsuzaka, who, if the series goes the distance, will start Game 7.
If you are a Red Sox fan, that is something really to hate about this American League Championship Series.
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