Cleveland Indians Baseball Team

CLEVELAND -- Managers Eric Wedge of the Indians and Terry Francona of the Red Sox were more than willing to discuss Thursday's news regarding Joe Torre -- to a point. The first two questions of Francona's media session before Game 5 were about Torre's decision to turn down a one-year, $5-million deal to return as manager of the New York Yankees.

CLEVELAND -- The Boston Red Sox are in enough of a pickle, pushed to the brink of elimination by the surging Cleveland Indians, who have rolled to three straight American League Championship Series victories before Game 5 tonight in Jacobs Field.

CLEVELAND -- Good thing the Cleveland Browns have an open date this week. That will give the Indians plenty of time to return the playbooks they stole from their football-playing neighbors on Lake Erie. For the second time in this American League Championship Series, the Indians tallied a touchdown and an extra point in one frame, riding a seven-run fifth inning to a 7-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 on Tuesday night at Jacobs Field.

CLEVELAND -- Put the speed guns away. They won't be necessary tonight when Cleveland Indians veteran Paul Byrd faces knuckleball-throwing Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, except to see whether their fastballs would get freeway speeding tickets. "This may be the slowest-throwing right-handed matchup of all time in the postseason," Byrd said Monday, the interview room in Jacobs Field erupting in laughter.

David Ortiz, all 6 feet 3 and 240 pounds of him, was sprawled on a clubhouse couch Monday night, his sore right knee wrapped in ice, his face and voice a mixture of exhaustion and frustration. Asked how, on a scale of one through 10, his knee felt, the Boston slugger said, "Zero."

CLEVELAND -- The Indians' top two pitchers, Cy Young Award candidates C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, have been anything but dominant in the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.

BOSTON -- The Cleveland Indians withstood several long balls and curtain calls to emerge from a grueling 5-hour, 14-minute, 11-inning game with a 13-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series at Fenway Park.

BOSTON -- Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said Saturday that his decision to pull Josh Beckett after six innings and 80 pitches in Friday's 10-3 Game 1 win had nothing to do with a plan to bring his ace back on three days' rest to start Game 4. "It was a long [sixth] inning, it was cold, we had a big lead," Francona said. For those who follow the Red Sox regularly, he wasn't very convincing.

BOSTON -- And the Angels thought they had problems with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Ten times Friday night, Ortiz and Ramirez came to the plate in Fenway Park, and 10 times they reached base, combining for four hits, five walks and four runs to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 10-3 thrashing of the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. "I've never seen anything like it -- they're unbelievable," Boston third baseman Mike Lowell said.