Indians eliminate Yankees
NEW YORK – Once Grady Sizemore hit a leadoff home run, the Cleveland Indians were headed to the A.L. Championship Series. The New York Yankees were braced for a showdown with their boss.
Paul Byrd and the Indians bullpen closed out New York 6-4 in Game 4 Monday night, completing the third straight first-round debacle for the Yankees, one that might cost manager Joe Torre his job.
“It’s tough. It’s exciting,” Sizemore said.
“We fought hard and got it done here.”
The Yankees came in streaking, overcoming a 21-29 start to win the A.L. wild card. But they were done in by poor pitching, an insect invasion and the latest October vanishing act by Alex Rodriguez, whose bat was quiet until a solo homer in the seventh inning.
The pesky Indians, who wasted a three-run lead in Game 3, chased Chien-Ming Wang in the second and burst ahead 4-0. Byrd kept wiggling out of trouble, and Victor Martinez’s two-run single made it 6-1 in the fourth inning off Yankees reliever Mike Mussina.
A day after averting a sweep, New York put runners on in every inning except the eighth. But when it counted, its high-octane offense fell flat once again, with late homers by Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu not enough.
“I got some big outs with guys on base,” said Byrd, who stranded two runners in the first and three in the second.
Cleveland moves on to its first ALCS since 1998, opening Friday night at Boston. The Indians were only 2-5 against the Red Sox this season, but will have aces C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona rested for Fenway Park.
The Indians are seeking their first World Series cahmpionship since 1948. .
Bewildered New York opens yet another off-season of turmoil, another October over nearly as soon as it began. All eyes will be on owner George Steinbrenner, who said during the weekend he didn’t think he’d keep Torre as manager if New York bowed with another early exit. While the Indians celebrated in the infield, A-Rod stood alongside teammates, one leg on the top step of the dugout, the other a step below.
Fans chanted Torre’s name when he made two trips to the mound in the eighth inning, handing the ball to Mariano Rivera for perhaps the final time in an era that brought the Yankees success they had not enjoyed since the 1950s.
“You can feel their heartbeat,” Torre said of the fans.
A disappointed crowd of 56,315 also might have seen Rodriguez in pinstripes for the final time. A likely MVP during the regular season, A-Rod was largely AWOL in the postseason for the third straight year, striking out with two on in the first and again leading off the third.
Rodriguez, who can opt of his record $252 million, 10-year contract next month, did hit a solo homer off Rafael Perez in the seventh – ending a streak of 57 consecutive postseason at-bats without an RBI since 2004. He was 4 for 15 in the series.
Rodriguez is not the only one who may depart. Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens also aren’t assured of coming back, although the Yankees probably will try to keep some, if not all.
Derek Jeter will be back, of course. But the hero of postseasons past had just one RBI in the series and bounced into three double plays.
It was 87 degrees at game time – the hottest Oct. 8 ever in New York City – and the Indians applied heat right from the start.
Wang, battered for eight runs in New York’s opening 12-3 loss, was chased after just three outs – the shortest start of the 27-year-old’s short career.
Sizemore homered on the third pitch of the game, hitting a 95-mph fastball with little sink for just his second shot since Aug. 28. Jhonny Peralta lofted a two-RBI single to center.
Cleveland loaded the bases in the second on two singles and a hit batter – the Yankees argued Kelly Shoppach fouled off his bunt attempt, but umpires decided it hit a hand. That was it for Wang, whose stats will be besmirched with a 19.06 ERA in this series.
Mussina came out of the bullpen to save the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against Boston but couldn’t do it this time. Sizemore grounded into a run-scoring double play, and Asdrubal Cabrera singled for a 4-0 lead.
Indians manager Eric Wedge was questioned for not using Sabathia on short rest over Byrd, but Byrd came up big. He allowed runners in every inning but pitched out of jams with his assortment of offspeed stuff.
Time after time, the Yankees failed in the clutch, going 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, leaving them at 6 for 28 in that situation in the series.
Byrd allowed two runs in five-plus innings, and Perez and Rafael Betancourt followed in relief. Joe Borowski finished up for a save, allowing Abreu’s solo homer with one out.
New York had two on with one out in the first, but Rodriguez struck out on three pitches and Jorge Posada flied out. The Yankees put their first two runners on in the second before Melky Cabrera popped out. Doug Mientkiewicz walked to load the bases, but Game 3 star Johnny Damon popped out before Jeter hit a hard three-hopper off a diving Casey Blake at third for an RBI single.
With the chance to get the Yankees back in the game, Abreu flied out.
The first two innings took 1 hour, 14 minutes.
A-Rod was called out on strikes in the third, when the Yankees stranded a runner on third base. Cleveland then made it 6-1 in the fourth when Martinez singled following an intentional walk to Travis Hafner that loaded the bases.