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Players say momentum meaningless in baseball
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal columnist
Published on Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
Flash back six days, to the days of black and white TV and the Indians being tied 1-1 with the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
It seems that long ago, doesn't it, that the Indians were flying home after a stirring extra-innings win in Fenway Paahk, located somewhere in that silly Red Sox ''nation.''
Suppose it's Sunday and the shoe-shine guy whispers to you while buffing the wing tips that the Indians are going to win 2-of-3 at home.
Gotta think you'd lean over, and whisper, ''Really?''
Assured it would happen, you'd lean back, smile and go back to reading the paper.
Seriously, who would not have accepted that fact and gone home to make the macaroni and cheese?
The Indians would have.
They said so, Thursday night, right after they lost to the Red Sox in Game 5.
''We'd have taken it,'' pitcher Paul Byrd said of the 2-of-3 guarantee.
There you have it.
Byrd was one of many Indians players carrying the stiff upper lip. As in, it stinks we lost but we are still leading this series.
So never mind Travis Hafner's sudden inability to hit and Franklin Gutierrez looking overmatched at the plate and C.C. Sabathia's disappointments.
Meaningless concept
The Indians maintain that there is no need for panic because the Red Sox won a game, and in baseball there is no carryover.
''Momentum don't mean anything,'' Kenny Lofton said.
OK. In this series momentum clearly means less than the way Lofton drops his bat.
Casey Blake agreed.
''I don't think there's momentum in baseball,'' Blake said.
Again, there you have it.
Much as there's no crying in baseball and no clinching wins from a tall left-handed starter in the playoffs in baseball.
There are a couple maxims in sports. One is that the team with the most runs or points wins. The other is that teams are a reflection of their manager or coach.
So it is with the Indians, who have a manager who steadfastly maintains that a season is little more than a series of 162 individual seasons. Play one game, forget it, go on to the next day.
On this Saturday morning, as the Indians awaken in Copley Square and get ready to bus to Kenmore Square (which is really more of a triangle) to play the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Paahk, it is probably well and good that this manager follows those precepts and that this team reflects its manager.
Because Eric Wedge constantly says his team must separate from one game to the next.
Today is as good a day as any to do that.
Because if they don't, the Indians might suffer from separation anxiety.
From the outside, the psychology of these baseball series seems to change from one game to the next. Thursday morning, Cleveland was ready to celebrate. By game's end, the problems seemed bigger, the task that much greater and the hope that Fausto Carmona can close things out in Game 6 exponentially higher.
Challenge grows
It almost seems now that because of a Game 5 loss the Indians have to beat the Yankees again, then go to Chicago and face the Cubs in a one-game elimination before taking on the Patriots in Foxboro. Then they get to play the Red Sox in their infernal ''nation.'' The task seems that much harder, from the outside.
Indians players scoff at this interpretation.
''We're still one win away,'' Blake said. ''They're two. . . . Who wouldn't like our position better?''
The hope is that the Indians aren't just saying that because they should.
The hope is that they mean it.
And it seems that they do. These Indians are a plucky group that does not seem inclined to give up because of one loss. Too, they have precedence on their side.
It's been done before
The last two times the Indians went to the World Series, they did so by winning Game 6 on the road (in Seattle and in Baltimore). And don't forget similar unease cropped up when the Indians lost Game 3 in New York. The players ignored it, came back and faced a pitcher they had beaten once and beat him again.
They must do the same tonight. They return from a loss to face Curt Schilling, a pitcher they beat up pretty good, a pitcher who had one good playoff outing against the Angels and one bad one against the Indians.
The Indians' position is good, but it's not as good as it was. Is it tenuous? Only they can answer that question and they'll answer it on the field.
''I like the heart of this team,'' Byrd said.
That's exactly what will have to show tonight.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
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