Red Sox Show No Weakness on the Mound or at the Plate

Oct 13, 12:00 AM

Current Headlines: BOSTON _ Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon sometimes gets migraine headaches that are so bad they make him "want to curl up in a ball and die." Eric Gagne, a former Cy Young Award winner and three-time All-Star, was supposed to provide a bridge to Papelbon, but that bridge collapsed in September, when he lost the feel for his split-finger fastball.

There's a suspicion that the Red Sox's Achilles' heel lies at the end of close games. But as easily as they're winning, how will we know?

Boston is the one great team in baseball this season _ a mix of power pitching, a resourceful lineup and skilled fielders _ and is putting all of those elements on display in October.

The Cleveland Indians sent 19-game winner C.C. Sabathia against Josh Beckett on Friday night at Fenway Park. It might as well have been a writing contest against Stephen King.

It was no contest, frankly, and the real question is whether anyone_the Cleveland Indians or the National League's surprising finalists, Colorado and Arizona_will be able to make the Red Sox break a sweat.

Beckett was his usual October self after Travis Hafner's first-inning home run, leading Boston to a 10-3 victory in the opener of the American League Championship Series.

Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the 2-3-4 hitters, all scored on two of their first three trips to the plate, keeping the Fenway Park fans buzzing on a cool, damp night that felt right for postseason baseball in New England.

Neither Sabathia nor the Cleveland relievers could get Ortiz or Ramirez out. They both reached base five times_Ortiz on a single, double, two walks and a hit by pitch, Ramirez on two singles and three walks.

"Stating the obvious_you can't win if they get on base like that," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.

The easy victory raised the Red Sox's record this postseason to 4-0, including the first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Angels. All the victories have been by three runs or more, with the total run differential 29-7.

Curt Schilling, starting a playoff game at Fenway Park for only the second time since the bloody-sock game in the 2004 ALCS, tries to send Boston to Cleveland with a 2-0 lead when he faces Fausto Carmona in Game 2 on Saturday night.

"You have to execute almost perfectly in October to be consistently successful," Schilling said. "I think we've done that."

This isn't the same Schilling who overpowered the Yankees' hitters in Game 6 of the `04 ALCS while blood seeped out of sutures in his right ankle, the result of a surgical procedure to repair a broken tendon sheath. That injury had forced him out of Game 1 of the division series, but he beat the Yankees only two weeks later to force Game 7 in that historic series, then beat St. Louis in his lone World Series start.

Ankle and shoulder injuries have bothered the 40-year-old Schilling in recent seasons, forcing him to master a changeup and learn how to win without a mid-90s fastball. But with the addition of Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka the last two years, it's arguable that his team never has been better.

Beckett worked six strong innings, allowing two runs on four hits while barely breaking a sweat. He had shut out the Angels in Game 1 of the division series nine days earlier.

This is a guy who handed the 2003 World Series to Florida, and he's positioning himself to make an encore, this time representing Red Sox Nation rather than Marlins township. He has a 1.87 ERA over 572/3 career postseason innings.

Just don't ask him to explain it.

"I'm just out there trying to execute the pitches," Beckett said. "If you start thinking about that stuff, you just create distractions for yourself. ... I'm just out there trying to play baseball."

If you're going to beat Boston this October, you're going to have to go through Beckett, Ortiz and Ramirez. All of them are peaking at the right time.

How hot are they? Ortiz has made only six outs in his last eight games.

While Beckett kept the Indians in check, Ortiz and Ramirez used a patient approach to victimize Sabathia. The Indians' ace walked five in his 41/3 innings, bouncing breaking pitches in the dirt and missing the outside corner.

"He didn't have it tonight," Wedge said.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona saw it another way.

"I thought our approach tonight was really, really professional," he said. "We didn't try to pull the ball. We didn't swing at balls. The middle of our order had real good discipline ... took what he gave us and didn't expand the zone."

It's going to take something special to beat these guys.

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