Sinker led to some high points

CLEVELAND - The sinker belonged to Jake Westbrook. The sinking feeling was all Boston's.

"He got locked in and started letting that sinker work," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who could only watch helplessly from the dugout as his players constantly pounded Westbrook's pitches into the ground en route to a 4-2 loss in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series last night.

So effective was Westbrook that by the time he left to a standing ovation at Jacobs Field, he had gotten 14 of his 20 outs on ground balls. It included three double plays, none more crucial than the one Coco Crisp hit into to get Westbrook out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second.

Westbrook may have taken the mound advertised as Cleveland's No. 3 starter and a guy who got rocked pretty good by the Yankees in Game 3 of the Division Series, but he was dynamic against the Red Sox. Mostly because of the sinker, but in great part due to a successful execution of a game plan he had discussed with pitching coach Carl Willis and manager Eric Wedge.

They wanted the first pitch to be a strike, "but you don't want to throw fastballs down the middle," said the 30-year-old righthander.

Call it mission accomplished, because of the 27 batters he faced, Westbrook delivered a first-pitch strike 21 times. He was 0-and-1 on 15 of the first 16 batters he faced, and that made his assignment easier.

"They're a patient team," said Westbrook. "If you start out 1-and-0, it's not to your advantage."

Instead, the advantage in the ALCS belongs to the Indians, two games to one, after Westbrook's solid 6 2/3-inning stint in which he yielded seven hits and just two runs.

"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," said Wedge.

Shift in gear

While the second-inning double play on Crisp's grounder up the middle was key, it was the first-inning double play that had Wedge talking. It involved three Indians, all of whom made nice plays to get Westbrook out of danger. Second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, playing in shallow right field, fielded David Ortiz's sizzling ground ball, then relayed to third baseman Casey Blake, who covered second. "He hasn't done a whole lot of that in his career," said Wedge. Handling Cabrera's high throw and sweeping his foot across the bag, Blake then delivered a low and wide toss to first base, only Ryan Garko stretched to the right-field side and completed a rare 4-5-3 double play. "That's about as good a double play as you're going to see with three players being pretty good with what they're trying to do," said Wedge . . . In the next inning, however, Garko misplayed an easy J.D. Drew ground ball to load the bases with nobody out. It was only Cleveland's third error in seven postseason games. Garko made another fine defensive play to end the fourth when he handled a Drew ground ball that glanced off the bag. Though he stumbled briefly, Garko recovered and flipped to Westbrook to get the out . . . Jhonny Peralta has had a roller coaster ALCS. He has four hits, a home run, and four RBIs, but he's struck out five times in 13 at-bats, including three times in an 0-for-4 effort last night . . . It was the 10th ALCS game in Cleveland, but the first since Oct. 11, 1998 . . . The Indians scored first for a third straight game . . . Last night was the 10th anniversary of Cleveland's 1-0 win over Baltimore that won the ALCS and delivered the Indians to their first World Series since 1954, though they lost in seven games to Florida.

Trotting him back out

Trot Nixon hardly was given any time to rest on his Game 2 laurels. It was a rare start in right field for Nixon, who signed with the Indians as a free agent in January, but by midseason had been pushed to the bench on a daily basis by rookie Franklin Gutierrez. "I look at Gutierrez and we've thrown a lot at him for a young kid," said Wedge. "He's gone a great job, but [Red Sox pitchers] have been feeding him a steady diet of breaking balls." The Cleveland manager assumed that last night's Red Sox starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, would try and continue that trend, so he turned to Nixon. "His playing time has been somewhat limited here the last couple of months," said Wedge of Nixon, "but when we have had him in there, he's given us some good at-bats." Most notable, of course, was the 11th-inning single that drove home what proved to be the winning run in Game 2 Saturday at Fenway Park. Nixon, who had gone 1 for 5 in two regular-season games against Matsuzaka, grounded to short in the second and struck out in the fifth against the Japanese import, then completed an 0-for-3 night when he grounded out against Mike Timlin in the sixth. He was then replaced for defensive purposes by Gutierrez.

Sporting News honors Wedge

Wedge was named AL Manager of the Year by The Sporting News. Five seasons ago, Wedge was TSN's Minor League Manager of the Year with the Buffalo Bisons . . . The only Indian named to TSN's AL All-Star team was lefthanded pitcher C.C. Sabathia . . . With nine hits in the first six games this year, Kenny Lofton had 45 in his postseason career with the Indians, moving him to second in franchise history behind Omar Vizquel. He added No. 46 last night and it was a big one: the two-run homer in the second inning to get the Indians started . . . Manny Ramírez still rates as the career leader in extra-base hits in the playoffs for the Indians (21) and he also holds the club record for total bases in a playoff game (10 vs. Seattle in 2001).