Lofton is their comeback kid

CLEVELAND - He has been here before. And before. And before. And before.

Just ask former Indians teammates such as Tris Speaker and Bob Feller.

Well, OK, Kenny Lofton doesn't go quite that far back in Cleveland - but it sure feels as if he's been around that long.

Maybe to us, that is, but not to him.

"I feel 25," Lofton said after he worked some of his familiar postseason magic against the Red Sox last night to help the Indians seize Game 3, 4-2, and take a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.

The truth is, Lofton is 40 and on his third go-round with the Indians, the other stints being 1992-96 and 1998-2001.

The even greater truth is, he's a most fascinating study of durability, adaptability, and mobility - not to mention that he must have the greatest set of luggage ever assembled. At an age when most big leaguers have long closed the book on their careers, Lofton is going strong. He is the subject of a humorous TV commercial regarding his well-traveled career, and never has the timing of such an advertisement been better.

That's because Lofton is again on the move toward a goal that has agonizingly escaped his grasp - an elusive World Series title.

Having studied closely the first six batters to get a feel for how Daisuke Matsuzaka was pitching, Lofton stepped in for his first at-bat in the second with Ryan Garko on first. He expected a fastball. A fastball is what he got from Matsuzaka, and with one whip of his bat, Lofton hit a shot to right that carried just over the fence and J.D. Drew's valiant leap, giving Cleveland a 2-0 lead just as the large crowd at Jacobs Field was getting settled.

"For him to go out there and get us going, our first game at home [in the ALCS], that really got us kick-started. He's a big-game player," said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge. "He's a guy who has a lot of experience."

That's akin to saying that the North Pole has a lot of ice, because Lofton is the No. 1 customer of moving companies from coast to coast.

Having broken into the major leagues in 1991, Lofton has played for 11 organizations and so wild has been his career that if you start at 2001 when he was with Cleveland, Lofton played nine seasons for nine teams. Some people would need Mapquest to go from Cleveland to Chicago (White Sox) to San Francisco to Chicago (Cubs) to Pittsburgh to New York (Yankees) to Philadelphia to Los Angeles to Texas, but not Lofton.

He merely needed his glove and trusty bat - both of which still work pretty darn well in this his 17th major league season, especially in the postseason.

"He loves the stage," said Wedge.

That, perhaps, would explain why Lofton seemingly has mastered the knack for getting himself here, because once again, the variety of his numbers is eye-opening. Last night was Lofton's 91st postseason game as he's been there with six franchises - Cleveland, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago Cubs, New York, and Los Angeles. He's also been to the playoffs in all three visits to Cleveland, which makes him sort of a cult hero here.

"The fans are pretty excited when I come up to the plate," said Lofton, who heard the sellout crowd at The Jake cheer his name in unison as he walked slowly to the plate. Real, real slowly, so slow, in fact, that Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said something to him.

"He understands how to slow himself down, just what it takes to have the right heartbeat," said Wedge.

And if it bothered the Red Sox and threw Matsuzaka off his rhythm, so what?

"If it works, I'll do it again," said Lofton with a smile.

He said he wanted to be aggressive, especially with a runner on, and Lofton's observations of the Red Sox pitcher had been spot-on. Matsuzaka had gone with his fastball a lot in the early going, but the one to Lofton didn't get past the veteran, though he brushed it off as a wild guess.

"I got lucky," said Lofton.

No one, of course, believed him, not when he can toss down a résumé filled with playoff appearances. That's when luck goes out the window and downright bewilderment takes over. It was his 95th postseason hit and his seventh postseason home run, and while he can claim playoff trips with six teams, the 46 times he has worn a Cleveland uniform in October make him an Indian now and forever.

He feels that every time he steps in front of this crowd.

"That's a good thing for me," said Lofton. "I just try to enjoy it and also try to do something."

Of course, he did do something - again - which is why his teammates mobbed him when he made that long, slow home run trot. He started the year in Texas, but he is where he feels he belongs, and while the Tribe got here on the talents of a multitude of players, there's no doubt that Lofton is their spiritual guide.

"I tell them to have fun with it, because you might not have this opportunity again," said Lofton, who has never followed his own advice.

He has, after all, done nothing in his career but give himself playoff opportunity after playoff opportunity.