Game three of the first round of the 2007 playoffs reminded me of what happened in the infamous Cleveland vs Boston 1999 Playoff Series in which we were up two games to none and Dave Burba was one-hitting the Red Sox through four innings of game three.
Burba's arm gave out and our threadbare bullpen could not hold the lead in that game and we ended up losing not only game three, but game four and five as well.
Flash forward to 2007, and the Indians are almost in the identical situation. Jake Westbrook has given up one run through four innings and the Indians are leading 3-1 through with a chance to sweep the Yankees.
One glaring difference however between then and now is that we have a much stronger bullpen than in the Red Sox series. Unfortunately, daring to pull Mr. Westbrook after three innings, or early in the fourth inning, was just not part of the plan, and just like what happened against Boston, the Yankees came back and won game three going away.
So now it's game four. Will Wedge be willing to take Byrd out as early as inning 3 or 4 if he is faltering but has managed to keep the scoring to a minimum? Or will Wedge insist on trying to get 5 or 6 innings out of Byrd even if it means Byrd has given up 5 or 6 runs by then?
The Indians did force Joe Torre to bring in Rivera in the ninth because their bats seemed to come to life in the 8th and that could prove big if it slightly tired out Mr. Rivera.
Trot Nixon was both a hitting hero and also misplayed a ball in the outfield that led to two extra runs scoring. Who says outfield defense is overrated? I believe that a superior outfield defensive threesome versus an average to below average one can save a team at least a hundred runs a year.
