8:32 p.m. - That's just what the Red Sox wanted to see from Dice-K in the first inning. His fastballs were all 95-96 mph, with one 97 mixed in. Now that's on a juiced FOX gun, of course, but it still looks like he's going all out. 60-70 maximum-effort pitches could get him through at least four, and then it's Delcarmen, Timlin, Okajima and Papelbon, with Beckett possibly mixed in.

8:35 p.m. - Pedroia gets down 0-2, but he lines to left for a single anyway. That's been the Indians' biggest weakness all year. With Westbrook, Byrd and Carmona not big strikeout guys, they give up an awful lot of two-strike hits.

8:37 p.m. - Youkilis pulls a grounder through the left side of the infield for a single on a 3-1 pitch. One gets the feeling that would have been a double play a few days ago.

8:40 p.m. - Westbrook fans Ortiz on inside cutters. Hard to believe Papi got himself out on those.

8:41 p.m. - Manny thinks he has pitches to hit to start the at-bat versus Westbrook, but he harmlessly fouls the first two off to the right. With a 1-2 count, he drills a one-hopper right at Peralta. Again, that might have been a double play a few days ago. In this case, it pops up on Peralta and deflects off his glove into left. The single scores Pedroia. 1-0 Red Sox.

8:45 p.m. - Lowell lines one through the left side top load the bases. No chance of scoring the run. All four right-handed hitters have pulled the ball fairly hard off Westbrook. If Drew reaches here, the Indians will have to get someone up.

8:47 p.m. - Now that's the Drew Red Sox fans know and loathe. A first-pitch double play gets Westbrook out of the inning with just one run in. I still think we might see Byrd get up during the top of the second.

8:52 p.m. - Martinez tries to shoot a two-strike pitch through the left side, but the liner is right at Lowell for out No. 1. Dice-K unleahes his first good slider of the night for strike two on Garko. He induces a groundout with a curve on the next pitch.

8:57 p.m. - Varitek drills a double high off the wall on the first pitch of the second. I agree with McCarver -- someone should be up in the pen. McCarver keeps saying Sabathia, but I don't see how he's preferable to Byrd, who has been better lately, is fully rested and has some experience in relief.

8:59 p.m. - Ellbury puts a little liner in the perfect place between Peralta and Blake for a single. Varitek correctly holds up on the ball, so he only reaches third. That's three two-strike hits for Boston.

9:01 p.m. - Lugo grounds into the 13th double play of the series for the Red Sox, though at least that one scores a run. It's still another big opportunity to open up a substantial lead wasted.

9:02 p.m. - Pedroia pops out to left. 2-0 after two. No one ever did get up in the pen for Cleveland. Wedge should consider himself pretty fortunate that it hasn't come back to bite him.

9:06 p.m. - Lofton shows bunt on the first pitch, but it's well high and outside. The second is a low and away fastball called a strike. With the count 3-2, Varitek tells Dice-K to shake him off and then throw the fastball. It works as Lofton flies to right.

9:10 p.m. - Dice-K isn't throwing as hard as he did in the first. He's at 93 mph on the FOX gun, which might be 91 in reality. Still, it's working. Gutierrez pops up to second, leaving him 2-for-16 in the series.

9:12 p.m. - Blake fakes a bunt on a 94 mph heater right down the middle. He takes one that looked to be at the knees for a ball. The next pitch doesn't look any better, but's a strike. Blake hits the 1-2 curve to Lugo's left for a single. I don't see why Varitek called for the curve over the slider there. The slider is the strikeout pitch.

9:14 p.m. - Blake takes second after Varitek blocks but fails to grab a wild pitch. Sizemore gets a fastball to hit on a 1-1 pitch, but he fouls it off to the left. He fails to get the call on the high curve, evening up the count. He goes down swinging at a high fastball to remain hitless with RISP in the series.

9:21 p.m. - Youkilis doubles down the left field line on the second pitch of the inning. Lewis up in the bullpen.

9:22 p.m. - As McCarver points out, even the left-handed hitters are taking pitches to the left side. The right-handers are all pulling the ball. The Red Sox have seven hits after 11 at-bats.

9:23 p.m. - Finally a player on the right side of the infield gets some work, as Ortiz grounds to Garko. That advances the runner to third and sets up an intentional walk to Ramirez. Westbrook will go after the third double play in three innings. If he doesn't get Lowell out here, we could see Lewis in the game.

9:27 p.m. - Lowell does a great job of laying off a couple of pitcher's pitches and delivers the sac fly. 3-0 Red Sox.

9:29 p.m. - Drew just misses putting one off the wall. Lofton catches it on the track to end the frame. 3-0 after three.

9:32 p.m. - One pitch, one out for Dice-K, as Cabrera pops out to open the fourth. Four scoreless from Matsuzaka is all the Red Sox really need tonight. He'd start the fifth anyway, but he wouldn't get a chance to work himself into big trouble.

9:35 p.m. - Hafner finally gets a piece of one, as Matsuzaka's fastball catches way too much of the plate. A double off the wall is the Indians' second hit of the night.

9:37 p.m. - Matsuzaka knocks down Martinez's hard grounder up the middle, picks up the ball and throws out the runner at first. Hard to tell whether Lugo would have had it had Dice-K not gotten his glove on it. I think it might have been a hit. Hafner still at second with two outs.

9:42 p.m. - Garko gets down 0-2, but Dice-K can't put him away with back-to-back curves. The fifth pitch is a high fastball also fouled off. Finally Dice-K throws his good slider, but Garko barely holds up on the check swing for ball one. The seventh pitch is another slider fouled off. Back to the high fastball? No, it's an outside fastball that Garko lays off. Nice at-bat from him. Pitch No. 10 is an RBI double off the far right of the Green Monster, That's a homer in a lot of parks. 3-1 Red Sox.

9:44 p.m. - Now it's surprising that the Red Sox don't have anyone up. That at-bat had to be draining for Dice-K. Still, he gets out of the inning after Peralta rolls one to short on the fifth pitch of the at-bat. Good play from Lugo coming in on the ball.

9:50 p.m. - Varitek singles through the left side of the infield. If the Indians would just station Cabrera in the hole over there, this game would probably be tied.

9:52 p.m. - Lewis back up in the pen. Blake is looking bunt with Ellsbury up, but with the Red Sox hitting everything over there, that seems dangerous.

9.53 p.m. - Ellsbury lines one that goes off the glove of a leaping Garko. However, Varitek was returning to the bag on the play, and since the ball doesn't get too far away, he's thrown out at second. Nothing he could have done differently there. Ellsbury at first, which is at least a good trade for Boston.

9:55 p.m. - Red Sox want to stay out of the double play here, and so Ellsbury should take off. Hit-and-run on the 0-1 pitch turns into a single when Cabrera breaks to cover the bag and can't get back to the grounder to the left of him. Just how the Red Sox would have drawn it up. Ellsbury speeds to third to put runners on the corners with one out.

9:57 p.m. - If Lugo happened to be on second, rather than first, Lewis might be in now. Since the double play is still in order, Westbrook gets to work to Pedroia. Although he puts the ball in play an awful lot, Pedroia grounded into just eight double plays all year. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, that's what happens here. Lugo takes off with the pitch and runs right into the out. Even after he does something right offensively, he manages to make up for it somehow 3-1 Red Sox after four. Nine hits should result in more runs than that..

10:02 p.m. - Dice-K still in. Lofton appears to double off the wall on the second pitch of the inning, but Manny makes the perfect throw to second and the Red Sox get the call, even though the tag appeared to be late. Huge call. The Red Sox need someone up in the pen right this moment.

10:04 p.m. - Gutierrez singles up the middle. Okajima up for Boston. Ideally, he'd be in to face Sizemore if Blake reaches. Dice-K should be throwing over to first base to give Okajima more time to warm up.

10:06 p.m. - Blake singles to right on what was really a pretty good pitch. Farrell comes out to talk to Dice-K. I don't like this at all. Dice-K is done. He should have been done after four.

10:09 p.m. - At least Grady Little waited too long to pull the most dominant pitcher of his generation. Terry Francona is showing too slow of a hook with a guy who hasn't been any good in two months.

10:11 p.m. - Dice-K is incredibly lucky just to give up a sac fly on a two-strike fastball to Sizemore right down the middle. 3-2 Red Sox. Two outs.

10:14 p.m. - Two strikes again. 82 mph changeup on a tee for Cabrera, but he fouls it off. 78 mph curve on the outside corner. That's been a strike a couple of times tonight, but not now. Dice-K finally gets him with his best changeup of the night, even if it was left up. I still think leaving Dice-K in was a terribly boneheaded move. There's no way he'll start the sixth with Hafner up. It'll likely be Okajima.

10:21 p.m. - Westbrook fans Youkilis to start the Boston fifth. Just his second of the night. Now he gets Ortiz on a grounder to second. Ortiz has looked simply awful in three at-bats tonight.

10:26 p.m. - Manny strikes out looking, completing the momentum shift. 3-2 after five.

10:29 p.m. - Including regular-season play, Ortiz is now 1-for-12 against Westbrook lifetime. It really doesn't make much sense. He should be the kind of pitcher Papi feasts on.

10:30 p.m. - Okajima in. Hafner flies to the warning track in left for the first out of the sixth.

10:32 p.m. - Timlin and Beckett up in the pen. Okajima gets a high strike call to get a full count against Victor. It seems to be as though that pitch had been a ball all night. Victor ends up flying out to right field.

10:35 p.m. - The Indians haven't received a walk since Game 5, when they had two. Garko hits a weak grounder to short for the third out of the inning. I wonder how many heart attacks would have been prevented had the Red Sox just gone to him in the fifth.

10:37 p.m. - Another fun fact: it's the first time since May 30 that hes gone without a walk. That May 30 game was a loss to Cleveland in which he allowed six runs in 5 2/3 innings.

10:40 p.m. - Westbrook still in, but now it's Betancourt up behind him. The Indians apparently will bypass Lewis unless the game goes extra innings.

10:41 p.m. - Lowell fans on a pitch that looked like a ball. Westbrook has suddenly struck out three of the last four he's faced. Insurance runs will be tough to come by against Betancourt, so another scoreless inning from Westbrook would hurt.

10:42 p.m. - Routine grounder to second from Drew. No way he was going a whole game without one of those. Boston's top two left-handed hitters are 0-for-6. During the regular season, lefties had a 783 OPS against Westbrook, while righties were at 669.

10:43 p.m. - Varitek strikes out in particularly ugly fashion to end the sixth. At least the Red Sox are no longer hitting into double plays. 3-2 Boston after six.

10:46 p.m. - Okajima still in. Beckett and Timlin have sat down, and it's Papelbon up in the pen. It looks like the closer will go the eighth and ninth if Okajima can get through this one.

10:47 p.m. - Peralta flies out to right field.

10:48 p.m. - Unbelievable. Lofton pops up the first pitch. Lugo goes way out into left, calls Manny off and drops the ball. Lofton standing on second. Lugo shaping up as the goat of the series if the Red Sox lose this one.

10:50 p.m. - If three years ago didn't happen, Buckner would have been brought up after that one.

10:53 p.m. - Gutierrez singles over the third base bag and off the barrier beyond third base. Lofton fails to come around to score, though there's a good chance he would have made it. First and third, one out.

10:54 p.m. - First pitch to Blake turns into a routine double play ball, 5-4-3. There may be no hitter in baseball who loses as much as Blake with RISP. He's been terrible in those situations this year and throughout his career.

10:55 p.m. - Okajima was simply terrific for his two innings. The Indians probably should have tied it on Gutierrez's hit, but it was all Lugo's fault that they were in that position. It'll almost certainly be Papelbon for the next two. Delcarmen and TImlin if the game goes extras. I don't think the Red Sox will be quick to get Beckett back up again after sitting him down.

11:59 p.m. - Ellsbury pounds one of the ground down the third-base line and Blake blows the play. It looks like he carried his at-bat to the field with him. Even if he grabbed it, with the way he played it -- opting not to charge it -- there's a good chance Ellsbury would have been on first. Now he's on second after the ball gets well by the third baseman.

11:00 p.m. - Perfect bunt from Lugo advances Ellsbury to third. The run here would be huge.

11:01 p.m. - I completely missed that Betancourt was in. Why? Westbrook couldn't have been throwing any better. There certainly weren't any signs that he was fatiguing.

11:02 p.m. - Pedroia homers off Betancourt. That's probably the game right there. 5-2 Red Sox.

11:05 p.m. - Youkilis and Ortiz retired to end the seventh.

11:07 p.m. - Two of the top candidates for the Pirates' managerial opening are Indians third-base coach Joel Skinner and Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell. One of the two has, if anything, helped his stock tonight. Skinner's move to send and then hold Lofton as the tying run in the seventh proved to be a huge setback to the Indians' chances. What decisions Skinner makes on the field as a third-base coach shouldn't have any real reflection on how he'd perform as a manager. Still, it'd be hard to hire a guy who jmay have helped blow Cleveland's biggest game in 10 years.

11:09 p.m. - I don't see what Okajima was still doing in there. Why are the Red Sox asking for so much from their pitchers? Everyone is available, yet they've used two into the eighth inning. Simply bizarre. Sizemore's perfect drag bunt puts the leadoff man on in the eighth. Okajima will face Cabrera.

11:11 p.m. - Cabrera delivers the line-drive single to center, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs. Now Papelbon comes in. Imagine how much easier of an assignment it would have been three minutes ago.

11:14 p.m. - FOX shows a split screen that suggests there's no way Manny would have thrown out Lofton at home on Gutierrez's single.

11:16 p.m. - Papelbon overpowers Hafner on three straight fastballs. Frankly, Victor and Garko are far more dangerous hitters right now.

11:17 p.m. - Victor hits a double play ball, but neither Pedroia nor Lugo can get the ball out of his glove on the first try. They do secure the out at second, but that should have been the inning. The door is open for Garko.

11:20 p.m. - A poor slider from Garko becomes strike two simply because it was so unexpected. Garko gives the next pitch a ride, but it's handled flawlessly by Ellsbury as he approached the low wall in left center. Not putting in Crisp for defense doesn't cost the Red Sox there. Still 5-2 with three outs to go. It's hard to see Papelbon allowing three runs with the bases empty. He never allowed more than two runs in an inning during the regular season.

11:23 p.m. - Looking through the game log, the only time Papelbon ever gave up three runs in a game was in his major league debut July 31, 2005. That was the first of three starts he made as a rookie, and he allowed three runs -- two earned -- in five innings.

11:30 p.m. - Ramirez pops out, but Lowell doubles into the left-center gap and Drew delivers the RBI single to center to provide the Red Sox with a four-run lead. Betancourt entered the night having allowed two hits in 8 1/3 scoreless innings during the postseason. Now he's allowed three hits and three runs (two earned) through 1 1/3 tonight.

11:34 p.m. - One thing I was wrong about -- Borowski never blew a game for the Indians. He protected the only two save chances he was handed, closing out Game 4 against the Yankees and Game 3 against Boston. He did allow two runs in Game 6, but those were meaningless.

11:36 p.m. - Now Peralta and Blake pull a Lugo and turn a popup to left into a ground-rule double. I'm saying it for at least the third time in the series: Cabrera should be Cleveland's shortstop next year. Peralta profiles better at third than at second, but he'd probably still be OK at second. They could put him at third and jettison Blake, something they should do anyway, but that'd leave no room for Andy Marte or 2007 first-rounder Beau Mills.

11:41 p.m. - Ellsbury gets the intentional pass. Lugo fails to extend Boston's record of double plays hit into by striking out for out No. 2. The series apparently will end with them having grounded into 14, or two per game. They also hit into six in the three games against the Angels, so they've already set an overall postseason record in the category.

11:43 p.m. - Pedroia delivers the final knockout blow, a bases-loaded double that turns the game into an apparent rout. I knew I should have waited to write the game up for the site.

11:47 p.m. - Youkilis with the two-run homer. 11-2 Red Sox. Time to finish this one up. The Indians were simply too good through four games to lose like this.

11:48 p.m. - So, who is the MVP? Beckett? Youkilis? Pedroia?

11:49 p.m. - Ortiz down on strikes to end the eighth.

11:50 p.m. - I suppose Beckett has to be the choice. 2-0, 1.29 ERA, 18 strikeouts in his two starts. Youkilis hit .500 with three homers, seven RBI and 10 runs scored. Pedroia's numbers don't compare, but he's drove in five runs tonight and he's gone 7-for-13 in the three straight victories to close the series.

11:54 p.m. - Leadoff single off Papelbon. Better get Beckett back up.

11:55 p.m. - Lofton lines one to left, but Ellsbury's in for defense and he makes a sliding catch. Manny would have been playing in further, so there's a chance he would have had it. It wouldn't have looked so pretty, though.

11:56 p.m. - Ortiz is already rocking the goggles. One gets the feeling he's been through this before.

11:57 p.m. - Crisp robs Blake of a double to end it and seems to injure his right leg the process, though he got up and joined the celebration. With a left-hander on the mound for Colorado, he's probably going to start Game 1 if healthy.

12:00 p.m. - Well, that's a really tough way for the Indians to lose the series. They were outscored 30-5 in the final three games, but only Game 6 was a rout. Games 5 and 7 were both quite close until the last three innings. They'll be back here, and they could be an even better team next year if ownership opens the wallet. The Red Sox, though, are the superior squad now on offense and with the leather. They didn't play their best -- neither team did -- but all of those baserunners finally led to some big innings in the end.

12:05 p.m. - Rockies versus Red Sox? I think Boston wins in five. I'd have said the same thing had Cleveland won. The Rockies have been playing at the very top level of their ability for a month now, but the long break has to have had an adverse effect, and the Red Sox are simply better. At the start of the postseason, I didn't think there was any combination possible that should have seen the NL team favored in the Series. The Rockies are certainly playing better than the Angels, but top to bottom, they just can't match the top three from the AL.