Not much to say about the exchanges
He went out of his way at the end of the second inning in Thursday's Game 5 to say a few words as he crossed paths with Cleveland first base coach Luis Rivera, but there apparently was nothing to Josh Beckett's actions.
Given the fact that later in the game Beckett became embroiled in a heated exchange with the Indians' Kenny Lofton, speculation was that the Red Sox righthander had perhaps told Rivera to put his club on alert. Not so, said Rivera.
"It just happened [in that second] inning, he threw a high, inside pitch to [Franklin] Gutierrez," said Rivera, the onetime Red Sox infielder who is in his second year as an Indians coach. "When he was walking off the mound, he stopped by and said, 'Make sure he knows that I wasn't trying to throw at him. The ball just came out of my hand like that.' "
Theorists could twist things and recall that it was a Gutierrez home run July 25 that enabled Cleveland to beat Beckett and the Red Sox, 1-0, so perhaps this was a bit of payback. But that appears to be a stretch. It was a playoff matchup, there were two outs in a 1-1 game, and it seems unlikely that Beckett would have chosen that time and place to throw at the Indians right fielder.
Both Rivera and manager Eric Wedge shrugged off that encounter, just as they brushed aside the incident that took place in the bottom of the fifth. In that case, Beckett took offense to Lofton dropping the bat on a 3-and-0 pitch, seemingly trying to influence the umpire's call. It didn't work, because strike one was called, and when Lofton on the next pitch hit a high, lazy fly ball to left, Beckett let him have it with a verbal assault. On his way back to the bench, Lofton gave it right back to Beckett and the two stared each other down, enough that both benches emptied.
It was, said Wedge, much ado about nothing. It was a case of competitive fires getting the best of two players.
"I don't think there was any more to it than that," said Wedge. "I'm surprised we haven't seen more of it when it comes to the postseason because emotions run high. There was some verbiage back and forth and they toed up a little bit and everybody ran out and got some exercise and everybody ran back - which is usually the way it works. But nothing really happened."
Perils of Perez
Though their vaunted bullpen is a big reason the Tribe sit one game from the World Series, one member of that contingent has struggled: Rafael Perez, or "Raffy Left" as the southpaw is called to distinguish him from Rafael Betancourt, a righthander. In Game 2, Perez came on in the fifth to retire David Ortiz on a force play, then gave up home runs to Manny Ramírez and Mike Lowell and a single to J.D. Drew. In Thursday's Game 5, Perez was called in to start the eighth, but faced only four batters, giving up a walk, a fly out, and a single mixed in with his own throwing error. Thus, in two-thirds of an inning in this American League Championship Series, Perez has allowed four hits and five runs. Still, Wedge has not lost faith in the man who in 44 appearances this season went 1-2 with a 1.78 ERA. "He's been in some tough situations," said Wedge. "But I think he's still going to come into play here, before it's all said and done." . . . Three times in the postseason, Cleveland ace C.C. Sabathia has failed to pitch more than six innings, but pitching coach Carl Willis discounts the tired-arm theory. "I know the velocity was there," said Willis. "I thought he stayed in his delivery much better [Thursday] than those previous two outings [Game 1 in the AL Division Series vs. New York; Game 1 in the ALCS vs. Boston]. I thought that he was fine."Way off base
While Boston's 3-4 dynamic duo of Ortiz and Ramírez have been establishing outrageous on-base numbers (.634 for the postseason), Cleveland's answer - Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez - have reached base 14 times in 42 plate appearances in the ALCS, or just a .333 clip. For the three games in Cleveland, they were on base just five times in 23 plate appearances, a .218 rate . . . The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Chris Antonetti, the Indians' assistant general manager, is expected to interview for the GM job with the St. Louis Cardinals . . . The Red Sox are encouraging their fans to wear red to tonight's Game 6. What a change of pace that will be from Games 3, 4, and 5 at Jacobs Field when so many Indians fans wore . . . red, of course.Bottom's up
Fausto Carmona, the Indians' Game 6 starter, didn't have to be reminded about the peril of pitching to the heart of Boston's order: Ortiz, Ramírez, and Lowell. But what about the Nos. 7-9 hitters: Jason Varitek, Coco Crisp, and Julio Lugo? Although they are a combined 3 for 11 against him lifetime, Carmona said he is not likely to take anyone lightly. "You've got to approach everybody the same way," he said. "Manny, Ortiz, all those guys, starting from the first guy in the lineup to the guy who is hitting ninth. There's going to be no change in approach. I'm always going to be aggressive with those guys and pitch my game." . . . The last time the Indians held a 3-1 lead in the ALCS, they went to the World Series. In 1997 against the Orioles, they lost Game 5 at home (4-2) but won Game 6 in Baltimore (1-0, 11 innings). The only other time Cleveland has had a 3-1 postseason advantage was in the 1948 World Series against the Boston Braves. The Indians lost Game 5 (11-4) at home and won Game 6 in Boston (4-3) to claim their second world championship . . . A good omen, perhaps? In each of Cleveland's last two World Series appearances, 1995 and '97, the Indians lost Game 1 of the ALCS before going on to win in six games, defeating the Seattle Mariners in '95 and Orioles in '97.Michael Vega of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
