The_BaseBlog's Blog

It doesn't matter how you get the 2-1 series lead, just as long as you get it. That's my initial take after the Indians got a strong start from Jake Westbrook to win Game Three on Monday night.

A solid outing by Westbrook kind of balances things out with the shaky Game One effort by Tribe ace C.C. Sabathia. If I was greedy, tho, I'm sure I'd be saying, "Shoot, if C.C. would have shown up, the Indians would be up 3-0 right now."

First of all, there's no guarantee that Cleveland would have taken Game One against Josh Beckett, who was excellent on Friday and will likely be excellent when he starts Game Five on Thursday.

Hopefully, Wakefield's knucklers will be flat and the Indians' bats can knock him around tonight in Game Four. And hopefully Paul Byrd can deliver a Westbrook-like -- yeah, Westbrook-like -- effort tonight and keep Ortiz and Ramirez from doing damage.

-- John P. Wise