Well it was close for a little while. And things may have been different if Joel Skinner sent Kenny Lofton home on a single by Franklin Gutierrez in the 7th inning. Or if Travis Hafner showed some of the bat speed against Jonathan Papelbon that enabled him to hit 42 home runs just a year ago. But it wasn't meant to be. The Red Sox and their "Nation" outlasted the Indians and dominated the last 3 games of the ALCS to advance to the World Series against the Colorado Rockies.

Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis each went 3-for-5 with a double and a home run. Pedroia scored 3 times and drove in 5. Youk crossed home plate twice and knocked in 2. Josh Beckett was named the series MVP. Red Sox win the series, 4-3.

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  Indians  0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 1  Red Sox  1 1 1 0 0 0 2 6 X 11 15 1
W: D. Matsuzaka (W, 1-1); L: J. Westbrook (L, 1-1); S: J. Papelbon (S, 1)
HR: BOS: K. Youkilis (3), D. Pedroia (1).

Game Notes

- Kevin Youkilis batted .500 (14-28) in this series, establishing an ALCS record for a 7-game series, besting California’s Bob Boone, who batted .455 in 1986…The 14 hits by Youkilis match Hideki Matsui (2004) and Albert Pujols (2004) for most-ever in an LCS series…Youkilis scored 10 runs in this ALCS, establishing an ALCS record, one more than MATSUI in 2004.

- The Red Sox hit (.318) for the 2007 ALCS, an LCS-record for a best-of-seven series, becoming just the 2nd team since the advent of the best-of-seven series to hit better than .300 in an ALCS (Toronto, .301, 1993)…The Red Sox set an LCS record for most runs scored in a series, with 51 runs, besting the previous-high of 45, set by New York (AL) in 2004.

- The Red Sox grounded into 3 more double plays tonight, giving them 20 for the postseason, eclipsing a single-postseason record of 17, set by St. Louis in the 2006 postseason (16 games)…Boston has 14 GIDPs in this series, 4 more than the all-time LCS record (Baltimore, 10, 1997).

- Boston outscored Cleveland 30-5 in the final 3 games of this series.

- Josh Beckett has been named the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 American League Championship Series…Beckett was 2-0, 1.93 (3 er/14 ip) walked just one batter and fanned 18, earning the victories in Games One and Five in this series…The LCS MVP is the 1st for Beckett, who was named Most Valuable Player of the 2003 World Series with Florida…Beckett is the 3rd Red Sox player to ever win an ALCS MVP Award, joining David Ortiz (2004) and Marty Barrett (1986).

Recapping the Game in Quotes

Q. Speaking of that experience factor, do you and some of the other younger guys feed off of that personally? Do you get a sense of confidence, a sense of calmness from talking to some of these veteran guys who have been through this?

DUSTIN PEDROIA: Absolutely. You know, we've never been through this. This is on the biggest stage. Everyone is watching these games. I remember the Angels series, I was nervous. Alex Cora told me, "Hey, settle down, be yourself, have fun. This game is meant to be played, have fun. Play as hard as you can and leave it out there on the field. If we lose, we lose. Don't have any regrets." You know, ever since then I kind of went out there, and I don't worry about anything but playing hard. I think everybody is doing that. Nobody cares about anything, just picking each other up and playing the game to win.

Q. Kind of along those lines, there was a stretch in the middle of the series where you weren't getting hits in parts of the lineup, and then the last three games you've got a lot of runs, a lot of hits throughout this team. Can you just talk about the switch, I guess, of that going on?

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, even tonight, though, early on we really didn't. We created a lot of opportunities early, but we couldn't put more than one up. Like I said, Westbrook got so comfortable that it looked like maybe we would have to make a stand. Kenny doesn't score on the ball down the line, has a chance to be 3-3. Oki makes a great pitch on Blake, gets a double play, and then again, it gave us time to start tacking on. You get into the bullpen and things start going wrong. You have to walk people and it can get away. It happened to us earlier here in the series.

Q. As disappointing as the last three nights were, will there come a point where you can see this as part of a progression or growth for your club?

ERIC WEDGE: Yeah, I already do. It's not something I'm thinking about right now. I felt that even prior to this series. I'm disappointed obviously we weren't able to finish it off. I'm proud as I could be of our players. I've told them, it's been my honor and privilege to manage this baseball team. The respect that they show for the game, what it means to be a great teammate, and how they play the game means more to me and to us as the Indians organization than anything, and those guys go out and do it that way and win on top of it. We fell short, but I think we learned a great deal in this postseason.

Postgame notes and quotes courtesy of MLB

Curt Schilling bounced back with a strong outing tonight going 7 innings while allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits and striking out 5 for Boston. J.D. sparked the offense by going 3-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBI as the Red Sox trounced the Indians, 12-2, to force a game 7 tomorrow in Boston. Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia also combined to reach base 7 times and score 4 run in 10 plate appearances for the victorious Sox. Series tied 3-3.

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  Indians  0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 2  Red Sox  4 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 X 12 13 0
W: C. Schilling (W, 1-0); L: F. Carmona (L, 0-1)
HR: CLE: V. Martinez (1). BOS: J. Drew (1).

Game Notes

- Game Seven of this 2007 ALCS will be played on Sunday at 8:23 p.m. ET…Jake Westbrook will start for Cleveland, while Daisuke Matsuzaka will start for the Red
Sox.

- Since the start of the 6th inning in Game Four, the Red Sox have outscored the Indians, 22-3.

- Manny Ramirez walked twice in the 3rd inning, the 1st player in LCS history to walk twice in an inning…Ramirez has 8 walks this series, 2nd most in ALCS history.

- David Ortiz hit into Boston’s 11th GIDP of this series, establishing an LCS record for a series of any length…The GIDP marked the 17th GIDP this postseason, matching St. Louis for most in a single postseason, set in 2006.

Recapping the Game in Quotes

Q. Can you talk about the third inning with the first two runners reaching? What was your game plan starting with Sizemore?

CURT SCHILLING: I mean, that inning was pretty much a microcosm of the season. All the lessons that John has been working and drilling into my head, and all the things we've worked on kind of came into play within the sequence of five hitters. Got ahead, left some splits up early in the inning, and then really, the one thing he pounded into my head is focus on each pitch, execute pitch to pitch. I spent the next three hitters every pitch trying to make sure that I executed the pitch. You know, game plan-wise, Tek was perfect, and it worked out.

Q. Could you talk about your approach, just one pitch, the difference between a 3-1count and a 2-2 count, and just how that approach changes had that been a 2-2 count?

J.D. DREW: Well, like I said, the whole situation with the way he throws, if you can not swing at a sinker that's just off the plate, then you've got a good chance. He pitched effectively to me the first game that we faced him. So I knew what I was looking for, and just really trying to get a pitch that I could handle and hit hard. I think everybody grounded out at-bats. everybody that went up to the plate really seemed to have a game plan and kind of stuck to it. Realizing that we kind of had our backs against the wall, you want to get some guys on base and get some timely hits and we were able to do that tonight.

Q. This is your second ALCS Game 7 in four years, and I'm wondering how, if at all, your managerial strategy changes for a Game 7 as opposed to a Game 6 or 5 where you were still one game away from elimination?

TERRY FRANCONA: It doesn't change a whole lot. Obviously everybody is on hand pitching-wise; you use everybody. You certainly go to different guys in the bullpen maybe earlier  than you would in the regular season. But other than that, we'll show up tomorrow and do the same thing we do every day, kick Pedroia's ass in cribbage, try to go win a baseball game (laughter).

Q. Can you talk about Carmona tonight.

ERIC WEDGE: Well, some of the same of what we saw before a little bit, I think, in this series. They hit a couple balls on the ground there early in the right spot, not much you can do about it. Still didn't do a very good job of working ahead. Had good stuff. Almost worked through that inning, again, and J.D. got him. And then things just sort of dominoed on him from there. Just wasn't in the cards for us tonight. Laffey pitched great for us, really picked us up in the bullpen. He hadn't pitched in three weeks, and we bring him in against Ortiz. He did a good job, and he pitched well and saved our bullpen.

Q. How much of an issue was the strike zone from your standpoint in the first inning?

ERIC WEDGE: Well, obviously we had some issues early on, but the umpires have a tough job. And particularly against a team like a Boston or a New York, teams that are very patient, you've got to make sure that when you're in command of the baseball and you're putting it on the plate, that you're getting those calls. We felt like it was a little tight, but then again, we weren't exactly pounding the zone, either. Victor was a little bit upset and I was a little bit upset, but that's part of it. It's part of it.

Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake each had 2 hits and hit home runs to lead a 7-run 5th inning and give the Indians all the runs they'd need to get by the Red Sox, 7-3. Paul Byrd allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits over 5 innings. Boston's Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez hit solo back-to-back-to-back home runs to account for all of the Sox runs on the evening. Indians lead the series 3-1.

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  Red Sox  0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 8 1  Indians  0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 X 7 9 0
W: P. Byrd (W, 1-0); L: T. Wakefield (L, 0-1)
HR: BOS: D. Ortiz (1), K. Youkilis (1), M. Ramirez (2). CLE: J. Peralta (2), C. Blake (1).

Game Notes

- For the first time in LCS history, three players connected on back-to-back-toback home runs, as the Red Sox hit 3 straight home runs in the top of the 6th inning

- In each of the last 3 games of this series, Red Sox starting pitchers have lasted 4.2 innings each, the 2nd time in Boston postseason history that three consecutive starters failed to pitch 5.0 innings.

- The Indians have scored first in every game this series.

Recapping the Game in Quotes

Q. You neutralized one of the best teams in baseball over five innings. How?

PAUL BYRD: You know, I went out there, and my goal going in was to move the ball in and out, inside part of the plate, outside part of the plate. I think sometimes these guys can scare people and shy away from throwing the ball in, thinking they're going to hit another home run. So that was my goal going in, was to move the ball in and out. I didn't really expect to strike anybody out. I was hoping to jam some people. I had a good fastball. I hit 90 miles an hour, which happens a few times a year. I high-fived a couple of guys in the dugout and said, hey, pick me up here, I just hit 90. But Wakefield was really tough. He threw a great game, was phenomenal tonight, and I wasn't expecting very many runs, and next thing you know we have seven. So it was a great night for us.

Q. Last night Jake I think threw 21 out of 28 first-pitch strikes. You were at a high percentage tonight, too. Is that something you guys changed from Game 1, where you looked at Game 1 and saw the trouble that C.C. had getting behind and were more aggressive?

PAUL BYRD: Yeah, I think so, and this team right here is patient. They don't swing at bad pitches. If they fall behind, you have to come in the strike zone a little bit more. The strike zone shrinks in playoffs sometimes depending on which park you're at. I think our goal after the first game was to be more aggressive, try and get ahead in the count and make them hit our pitches.

Q. Your at-bat, the home run, Wakefield had been unhittable up to that point. Take us through that at-bat, and what changed in that inning with Tim where you guys were able to get to him and then get to the bullpen?

CASEY BLAKE: Man, I don't know. I wanted to be aggressive. I mean, the first pitch to me looked like it was going to be chest high, and that thing just dropped off the table for a strike, and I just said, gosh. With him it's just a matter of maybe just getting one that just doesn't move that much and just trying to square it up. Sometimes against him you're up there just scratching and battling, just trying to just make solid contact and not look like an idiot up there swinging at that pitch when it's coming in there like that. Like I said, I got lucky there, hit one on the barrel, and it seemed like that got us going a little bit. You've got to give credit to the guys coming up later, some of the two-strike base hits, Asdrubal and Vic. Those guys were battling.

Notes and quotes courtesy of MLB

Matt Holliday homered and drove in 3 runs, and Seth Smith hit a 2-run pinch hit double as the Rockies erupted for 6 runs in the 4th inning and held on to beat the Diamondbacks, 6-4. Chris Snyder doubled, homered, and drove in 3 runs for Arizona who never quit. Colorado completes the improbable, sweeping both the NLDS and the NLCS. Is a World Series sweep in the cards too? Stay tuned! Rockies win the series 4-0.

	FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Diamondbacks  0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 10 1 Rockies  0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 X 6 6 1
W: M. Herges (W, 1-0); L: M. Owings (L, 0-1); S: M. Corpas (S, 2)
HR: ARI: C. Snyder (1). COL: M. Holliday (2).

Game Notes

- Left fielder Matt Holliday was tabbed as this year’s NLCS Most Valuable Player...Matt is the first outfielder to take home MVP honors in the National League Championship Series since Los Angeles’ Mike Devereaux in 1995.

- For the series, Colorado’s starters posted a 1.66 ERA (21.2ip/4er).

- The National League will be represented by a different team for the 10th time in the last 11 years.

- The Diamondbacks went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position tonight and finished the series with 4 hits in 27 at bats with RISP in this year’s LCS.

- The Diamondbacks were held to just eight runs in this year’s LCS, the fewest amount of runs scored in a NLCS of at least four games since the Pittsburgh Pirates were held to 12 runs in seven games during the 1991 NLCS against the Atlanta Braves.

- The Rockies will have an eight day break before taking on the Cleveland Indians or Boston Red Sox in the first game of the World Series on Wednesday, October 24!

Recapping the Game in Quotes

Q. Can you just sum up how far you came this season? I'm sure there's disappointment, but just looking at where you are tonight?

BOB MELVIN: Once the sting of this subsides, I'll be able to reflect that we did have a great year, starting in spring training, getting to this point, obviously, you know, if you asked us at the beginning of spring training if we would end up here, you'd have to take it. But obviously the farther you go along in the season, the more confidence you gain, the more wins you accumulate. You know, it hurts.

Q. Coming into the series the Rockies starting pitching wasn't the big story line. What made them so effective all throughout the series?

BOB MELVIN: Their pitching got better as the series went along. The younger guys came up big for them, the bullpen was four to five as the season went along. Herges and Affeldt, they picked up during the season, they got deeper with the emergence of Corpas, and now they're playing a shorter game where in the past they weren't able to do that.

Notes and quotes courtesy of MLB

Jake Westbrook tossed 6 2/3 strong innings, the Cleveland bullpen was flawless, and Kenny Lofton provided the offensive punch with a 2-run homer as the Indians topped the Red Sox, 4-2. Daisuke Matsuzaka was roughed up for Boston. He yielded 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks over just 4 2/3 innings. Cleveland leads the series 2-1.

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  Red Sox  0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 7 0  Indians  0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 X 4 6 1
W: J. Westbrook (W, 1-0); L: D. Matsuzaka (L, 0-1); S: J. Borowski (S, 1)
HR: BOS: J. Varitek (1). CLE: K. Lofton (1).

Game Notes

- Jason Varitek hit his 10th career postseason home run in the 7th inning, matching Johnny Bench and Javy Lopez for most career postseason home runs as a catcher.

- The Red Sox grounded into 3 double plays tonight, the second straight game the team has 3 GIDPs…In 3 games this series, the Red Sox have hit into 7 GIDPs, the most ever by one team in the first 3 games of an LCS of any length…The record for most GIDPs in a series was set by Baltimore with 10 in 1997.

Recapping the Game in Quotes

Q. Did you do anything unusual with your pitch mix? I mean, it seemed like early on especially you were using a lot of four-seamers that were hitting the mid-90s. Just wondering how you'd describe your pitch selection this evening?

JAKE WESTBROOK: I didn't throw any four-seamers, sorry (laughter). I'm a sinkerball guy, I'm a two-seam fastball guy. That's what I live and die by. I threw that all night and was able just to mix in my secondary pitches pretty well. But I think for me it was pitching to both sides of the plate, and I was able to do that tonight.

Q. Two-part question: Talk about Westbrook, 15 of his 20 outs ground balls, double plays, and then your bullpen seven up, seven down. You and Carl couldn't have scripted it any better really.

ERIC WEDGE: You always know you've got a good chance to have a good day with Jake putting the ball on the ground the way he was. I felt like he was aggressive. He worked ahead. He was consistent within his delivery. He slowed himself down when he needed to slow himself down, good rhythm and tempo when that time was appropriate. Obviously they've got an outstanding lineup over there, but Jake did a good job controlling the ballgame. He made some fantastic defensive plays, some big double plays. Whenever you have the ability to get two outs with one pitch, it goes a long way for you.

Josh Fogg allowed just one run over 6 innings, and Matt Holliday and Yorvit Torrealba each went deep as the Rockies inched closer to the World Series with a 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks. On a wet night in Denver, Torrealba made the home town fans feel warm and fuzzy all over after launching a 3-run blast to give Colorado the lead for good. The Rockies bullpen was flawless, giving up just one hit in 3 scoreless innings. Rockies lead the series 3-0.

	FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Diamondbacks  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 0 Rockies  1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 X 4 9 0
W: J. Fogg (W, 1-0); L: L. Hernandez (L, 0-1); S: M. Corpas (S, 1)
HR: ARI: M. Reynolds (1). COL: M. Holliday (1), Y. Torrealba (1).

Game Notes

- The Rockies are now 6-0 to open this postseason...Colorado is one of just two NL teams to open a postseason by winning six straight...The 1976 Cincinnati Reds went 7-0 by sweeping the LCS and World Series.

- Josh Fogg improved to 7-1 lifetime against Arizona.  Josh also improved to 46-24 in 100 starts in his career when he works at least 6.0 innings in a game.

- The Diamondbacks went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position tonight and now have 2 hits in 17 at bats with RISP in this year’s LCS.

Recapping the Game in Quotes

Q. Josh, for those who will never pitch a playoff game, specifically what does it feel like to watch Torrealba's home run clear the wall?

JOSH FOGG: It's huge right there, because if he gets out right there I gotta go back for the 7th inning and I'm still in a 1-1 game. You're hoping for any kind of hit, bleeder infield hit, anything that scores a run there. He fought off a good pitch 3-2, that Livan threw him that slow curveball 3-2. It's a tough pitch to hang in there on. He waited back a long time and just got a piece of it. I was fortunate enough to get a fastball the next pitch and put a good swing on it.

Q. After fouling off a 3-2 curve, were you looking for another curve or was it a fastball before you hit the home run?

YORVIT TORREALBA: The home run was a fastball but I was looking middle all the way, we saw his stuff. He never really throw me a fastball inside. I don't see all year long he hasn't throw me any fastball inside. I was looking for a slider, a slider down away, or anything soft that way. Like I said, it surprised me and then he left it down the middle and I just reacted to it.

(Interesting conflicting accounts of the type of pitch! According to MLB's Gameday, it was a breaking ball around 82 mph which means it probably was a hanging slider. Hernandez curveball was being clocked around 60 mph)

Q. What did you see from Holliday tonight that maybe he wasn't doing in the first two games, just a matter of him, he's going to hit the ball?

CLINT HURDLE: I think he had the opportunity to look at some swings. He had the opportunity to step back the off day. As I mentioned before the game, our hitting coach, Alan Cockrell, has done a tremendous job with all our hitters, individually. Slowing them down, giving them an understanding, getting them back to their foundation and their base. Saw much better swings from Matt tonight. Much better swings from Todd. Tulowitzki, a few others. So we will hit. I have all the confidence in the world in our hitters and our hitting coach.

Q. Could you elaborate on Livan's performance and how he pitched kind of trademark Livan style?

BOB MELVIN: I really thought he pitched great. He leaves one slider to Holliday that he can get the barrel on. The rest of the game just the one pitch he was trying to get going on Torrealba. And left it there. And to his credit he got the barrel on it. Other than that, he pitched great. In a game where we're not giving him any support and the conditions and so forth out there, I thought he did more than his job to keep us in the game, give us a chance.

Q. Would you consider using or starting Webb tomorrow?

BOB MELVIN: No, Webb's not starting tomorrow.

Notes and quotes courtesy of MLB

Jose Valverde lost his cool and also lost the strike zone as he walked 3 and allowed the winning run to score in the 11th inning to give the Rockies a 3-2 win over the Diamondbacks. Each team used 6 pitchers in a tight struggle that last 3 hours and 35 minutes. Rockies lead the series 2-0.

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5