CLEVELAND: Anthony Washington is a sports fan.

Washington said he played football for the University of Akron in the 1990s. But Monday, the Cleveland resident plied his skills outside Jacobs Field as the Indians made their playoff run.

''I'm a businessman, just like Larry Dolan,'' he said.

Washington, 40, conducted his ticket-trading business on the street, away from the prying eyes of Cleveland's finest.

''Larry Dolan and I both get a chance to sell more tickets when the Indians keep winning,'' Washington said. ''So 'Go Tribe' is my motto.''

Washington said he doesn't mind being called a scalper.

''I'm in business to make money,'' he said. ''It's just like selling houses you buy low and you sell high.''

On this night, Washington still had 10 tickets with an hour to go before the first pitch in Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox.

''I've got an investment in my hand,'' he said. ''And it goes south if I don't sell them.''

Tickets were running for $250 up about $150 for the same tickets scalped at the New York series.

''The deeper the Indians play into October, the higher the prices get,'' Washington said. ''You could say I've acquired a real rooting interest for the Indians.''

Aside from the street, there were some tickets for Monday's sold-out game available on the Internet.

StubHub, the nation's biggest online broker, sold two tickets in the diamond box seats for $1,200 each for Monday's game.

TicketsNow had a seat somewhere on the path to Mars for $49, with a top ticket price of $190. And Coast to Coast Tickets had two tickets at $1,005.

''It's a buyer's market in Cleveland, and the sales are happening in a great frequency,'' StubHub Public Relations Director Sean Pate said. ''What has surprised me a little bit is how affordable the tickets are in Cleveland. It's not escalating to the out of reach for the average fan in Cleveland.

''The average price in Boston is $454, with the highest being $4,118 for a box seat last weekend. The average price in Cleveland is $164.''

Affordable, that is, unless you want to sit where the Fox cameras pan to find Halle Berry and Drew Carey.

A field box along the first-base line in Section 156 tonight goes for $1,334 on StubHub.

And a lower reserved seat in Section 101, Row F, for Thursday's game has a price of $5,183.

Presumably, you're able to stand alongside and chat with Indians right fielder Franklin Gutierrez during the game for that kind of dough.

noweb