8:49 p.m. - Lowell pops up the first pitch to shallow right. Very poor at-bat from him with the way Carmona is having trouble locating his pitches. He's 2-for-13 with no RBI in his last four games.

8:51 p.m. - T.J. Simers just had to tear up the column he was working on. Drew delivers a grand slam to center on a 3-1 pitch. To say that's huge would be an understatement. If the Red Sox had squandered another opportunity like this one, they really wouldn't have deserved to win the series.

8:55 p.m. - Varitek walks to extend the inning. The Indians may have to get someone up in the pen, but it'd be a mistake to be too quick with the hook. Carmona's stuff is there, and it's still very possible that he'll settle in.

8:56 p.m. - A Crispian at-bat from Ellsbury, who grounds out to end the frame. 4-0 Boston after one.

8:57 p.m. - The slam was the third in Red Sox postseason history. Damon's homer in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS was the last. It was just Drew's second extra-base hit of the series, the other being a meaningless double at the end of Thursday's game. It was his first postseason homer since the 2002 NLCS. He had gone 60 at-bats without one in his last four postseason series.

9:00 p.m. - Martinez answers for Cleveland with a homer just to the left of where Sizemore's went foul in the first. He simply owns Schilling.

9:05 p.m. - Garko strikes out on a couple of quality splitters, and Peralta grounds to third. A popup to left from Lofton ends a quick second for Schilling. He's thrown 22 pitches in two innings, while Carmona is at 36 after one.

9:10 p.m. - If the goal was to swing six inches over the ball, Lugo would be an All-Star. Since it's not, he's down on strikes.

9:12 p.m. - Pedroia doubles over a leaping Lofton on the seventh pitch. He's suddenly having much better at-bats. Still, that's probably an out in most parks, since Lofton would be playing a little deeper.

9:14 p.m. - Youkilis gets another infield single after Peralta gets a wired low bounce off the lip of the grass as he's moving to his right. Pedroia, who was off with the ball, reaches third.

9:16 p.m. - Ortiz stings one, but it's right at Peralta playing on the other side of second base. That makes 11 double plays hit into by Boston, setting a record for a postseason series. 4-1 Red Sox after two.\

9:20 p.m. - A liner from Nixon barely eludes a diving Pedroia for a single.

9:21 p.m. - The strike zone has as many holes as Hafner's swing right now. I don't think either Schilling or Carmona knows where Demuth wants the ball.

9:22 p.m. - Blake singles to put two on for Sizemore with no outs.

9:24 p.m. - Schilling gets lucky after leaving one up to Sizemore, as the looping liner is easily handled by Drew. Sizemore is 0-for-8 with RISP in the series.

9:25 p.m. - Cabrera gets another pitch up, but he can't extend his arms and the fly to right is caught by Drew. Nixon advances to third with two outs.

9:28 p.m. - Hafner rolls out to first with two strikes. He's 0-for-13 with eight strikeouts in his last four games.

9:34 p.m. - Ramirez walks. Three borderline pitches in that at-bat, and two went Ramirez's way. There's just no telling what's a ball and what's a strike right now, and the Red Sox are taking so many pitches that Demuth is having a big impact.

9:36 p.m. - Lowell walks on four pitches. No. 3 appeared to catch plenty of the top of the strike zone. Mastny up in the pen. It might be time to make a change. At least Mastny will be around the zone and get the Red Sox to swing.

9:38 p.m. - Drew delivers a hard single back up the middle to score Ramirez. First and second, still no outs, and that's the night for Carmona.

9:39 p.m. - It's hard to believe that Carmona had so little success against the Red Sox after throwing one of the best games I've seen all year in the ALDS against the Yankees. In his two starts, Carmona pitched just six innings and walked nine. He's allowed nine runs, and he's responsible for the two baserunners inherited by Mastny.

9:42 p.m. - Scratch that. It's Perez in the game, even though Ortiz and Drew are a ways away. Still not a bad move with a strikeout or a double play needed.

9:45 p.m. - Varitek's flyout to center advances Lowell to third with one out.

9:46 p.m. - Ellsbury plates the runner with a little liner over Peralta's head into left field. That makes it 6-1, only because Lowell advanced on Tek's fly.

9:47 p.m. - I was surprised Lugo didn't try for the bunt hit. He does far better, delivering a two-run double down the third-base line. Those are his first runs batted in of the postseason. 8-1.

9:48 p.m. - Laffey up in the pen. Pedroia walks on five pitches.

9:52 p.m. - All of the breaks are going Boston's way now. Youkilis delivers a shot off the wall. Lofton plays it perfectly, putting Youkilis in a rundown. Only the Indians blow the rundown when Cabrera's throw to first bounces off Youkilis' helmet (in his defense, it's a really big helmet). Lugo came around on the hit, and Pedroia scores on the misplay. 10-1, Perez out for Laffey, who is making his postseason debut.

9:56 p.m. - Now the Indians botch what should have been their 12th double play of the series. It actually looked like a foul ball down the firtst-base line. Garko fields the ball, steps on the bag to get Ortiz, then makes a bad throw to second. That would have been a big call in a close game.

9:58 p.m. - With this seemingly now a laugher, it'd be no surprise if the Indians throw at a batter sometime soon. Ramirez would be the obvious choice. I imagine both he and Ortiz will be out after six if the margin is still at eight or more runs.

10:00 p.m. - Ramirez walks. Lowell flies out to end the inning. 10-1 after three.

10:01 p.m. - Perez ended up allowing two runs in one-third of an inning. He's retired just three batters in three appearances versus the Red Sox, giving up five earned runs and seven hits in the process. This after he surrendered one run and three hits in six innings against the Yankees. Can the Indians even consider bringing him into a close game Sunday?

10:04 p.m. - Victor goes to 5-for-5 against Schilling in the series with an opposite-field single to lead off the fourth.

10:07 p.m. - Press release from the Red Sox: J.D. Drew just passed Carlos Quintana on the all-time jersey sales list at RedSox.com.

10:10 p.m. - Martinez is stranded as Garko flies out, Peralta fans and Lofton grounds out.

10:16 p.m. - The Indians will hope to get several innings tonight from Laffey, who ended the season as their fifth starter. He was an extreme groundball pitcher then, but all three of his outs in the fourth came through the air. Ellsbury hit what looked to be a sure double, but Sizemore made a terrific diving catch. It was a tougher play than the one he missed for a Youkilis triple in Game 5.

10:22 p.m. - A mistake from Schilling gets lined into right by Nixon for a single.

10:25 p.m. - Chris Myers is the breakthrough star of the postseason. Food for thought? He must steal his material from the same people as Dane Cook.

10:27 p.m. - A flyout and a double play get Schilling out of the inning. He's eligible for the victory, which would be the 10th of his postseason career.

10:32 p.m. - Lugo grounds out. Pedroia delivers a violent one-hopper to Cabrera's right, resulting in another nice play from the Cleveland defense. Youkilis comes up barely short of his third infield single of the night, as Blake barehands the roller at third and gets him by a step. 10-1 after five.

10:38 p.m. - Cabrera pops out. Hafner fans on three pitches. Can the Indians justify batting him third again in Game 7? Martinez strikes out to end the inning. It's the first time Schilling has gotten him out in six tries.

10:50 p.m. - A wall-ball single from Lowell amounts to nothing in the sixth, as Drew fans to end the inning. Still 10-1. That's 50 minutes for the last three innings. The first three took nearly twice as long.

10:54 p.m. - Ellsbury has a triple go off the top of his glove with his back not quite against the wall. That was the danger in starting him tonight, though the score makes the play irrelevant. Ellsbury will be an excellent defensive center fielder in time, but he still has very little experience dealing with the off configuration at Fenway. Odds are that Crisp would have caught that ball. With the game in the seventh, I'm sort of surprised the Red Sox haven't removed Manny and put Ellsbury in left, with Crisp in center.

10:56 p.m. - A sac fly scores Garko.

10:58 p.m. - Lofton grounds out, and Nixon lines out to end the inning. That should be it for Schilling. Okajima and Javier Lopez were up in the pen.

11:00 p.m. - Schilling will move to 10-2 with a 2.25 ERA in 18 postseason starts. He has a 116/23 K/BB ratio in 128 innings. Among active pitchers, I'd have to say Mariano is the only one with a more impressive postseason resume.

11:06 p.m. - 1-2-3 seventh for Laffey. The Red Sox haven't displayed much interest in trying to knock him out of the game and force the Indians to use someone they might need tomorrow.

11:10 p.m. - So, it will be Westbrook and Matsuzaka in the decisive Game 7 on Sunday. As effective as Westbrook was in Game 3, I'd still rather have Byrd out there from the Indians' perspective. He has the better history against the Red Sox. It would be four days' rest for him, so he'll be available to pitch several innings if Westbrook struggles early. I think Dice-K is the right choice for Boston, though some have suggested it should be Lester. The Red Sox do need to tell Dice-K to leave it all on the field. No nibbling. Just his best fastball and slider for as long as he has them. Any sign of fatigue in the third or fourth and the Red Sox can go to Lopez or Timlin then and bring in Lester to start the following frame.

11:14 p.m. - Lopez pitches a clean eighth for Boston. He really isn't much of a specialist, but he's been quite effective when brought in to start innings. During the regular season, he had a .208 average against with the bases empty and a .274 mark with runners on.

11:20 p.m. - FOX does a neat split screen of the home run trots of Manny in Game 3 and Victor's tonight. Victor did start jogging a little earlier, but Manny actually beat him to home plate by five seconds. Victor was definitely making a point there.

11:21 p.m. - Youkilis walks, Ortiz doubles off the wall (Hinske pinch-runs) and Manny delivers a sac fly. His LCS hitting streak appears to be over at 15 games. That matches Pete Rose for the longest of all-time.

11:23 p.m. - Actually, this might be FOX's best broadcast of the offseason so far. Few annoying interviews, good replays of everything, few examples of idiocy from McCarver. And I do appreciate that they always maintain the center-field view during the pitch. None of the reverse angle crap that some stations like to do five times per game.

11:24 p.m. - Lowell singles in Hinske. That's two runs allowed by Borowski, who was just in to get some work. This is more pitches than the Indians wanted him to throw. Mastny up and could come it.

11:26 p.m. - Varitek walks, but Borowski stays in and gets Ellsbury on a liner to shortstop. He allowed three hits and walked two in the inning.

11:28 p.m. - The Indians' plan for Sunday has to include two innings from Betancourt and at possibly two from Lewis. Will the Red Sox ask for two from Beckett in a close game? Papelbon has thrown five pitches in a week, so he's certainly ready to go two if that's what Boston wants. Still, I imagine Okajima would start the eighth in a close game.

11:30 p.m. - Gagne in for Boston. He wins the battle of fallen stars with Hafner by inducing a fly to center.

11:36 p.m. - Perfect ninth for Gagne, so it finishes up 12-2 Boston. As long as the first three innings took, the game as a whole came in at just over three hours. Fittingly, the teams that tied for the best record in baseball this year will play a Game 7 on Sunday.