Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Tribe wins two,Devils ice Penguins

Since we last had time to write,the Cleveland Indians moved to within one game of the World Series with two wins at home over the Boston Red Sox.

Game 3 went to the Tribe 4-2 in a game most notable for Jake Westbrook's gutsy seven inning effort and Kenny Lofton's two run homer off the high-priced Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Lofton's second inning shot into the seats gave the Indians a lead that they would never relinquish.
The Indians added two runs in the fifth on a Asdrubal Cabrera single and Travis Hafner fielders choice,runs that were needed as the Red Sox would add two runs in the seventh on a 2 run Jason Varitek homer.
Westbrook got the win and Joe Borowski fired the ninth to earn the save.

The Wahoos then added Game 4 to their belt with a 7-3 win.
The Indians plated all seven runs in the fifth inning and held off a 3 solo homers in a row barrage by the Red Sox in the sixth to give Paul Byrd the win.
Byrd allowed two of the homers and took the win after allowing two runs in 5+ innings.
Casey Blake's solo homer gave Cleveland the early lead and singles by Asdrubal Cabrera and Victor Martinez scored two more runs.
Jhonny Peralta's three run homer then put the game solidly in the Cleveland win column.

Game 5 in Cleveland will see a pitching rematch of Game 1 with C.C Sabathia for the Indians against Josh Beckett for the backed against the wall crimson hose.

Arron Asham broke Pittsburgh hearts with his 3rd period goal(2) to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 win over the Penguins and then followed up a few minutes later with a bop to the nose of Sidney Crosby.
I am not sure which I liked more!!
The Devils led 2-0 early with two goals by their "defensive" line as Jay Pandolfo (2) and John Madden (4) each popped in 1st period goals.
Each player assisted on the each others goals and David Clarkson picked up assists on both goals.
After 2 Pittsburgh goals tied the game at 2 after the first period of play,the Penguins grabbed the lead early in the second on a power play goal by Sergei Gonchar.
The Devils roared back to tie and take the lead on two power play goals by Travis Zajac (2 and 3).
The first Zajac goal was assisted by Zach Parise (first of three in the game) and Paul Martin,while assists on the second went to Parise and Brian Gionta.
The Penguins tied the game before the end of the second and that led to the only goal of the third period,Asham's game winner.
Asham's goal was assisted by Parise and Patrick Elias.
The win improves the Devils to 3-3 on the year with 6 points and only three more games on this murderous road trip.
The Devils battle the Flyers in Philadelphia today at 7:00.

Bullpen Notes

The hot rumor for the Pirates managing job has the job going to John Farrell.
Farrell,a former Indian pitcher and farm director is currently the Red Sox pitching coach.
To me,if the job goes to anyone other than Farrell,Joel Skinner or Torey Lovullo,it would be a surprise to me.

The Arena Football league has returned to Cleveland.
The Las Vegas franchise moved to Lake Erie and switched conferences so that the new team can be in the same division as Columbus...
No word on the new teams name.....

A game on today on MASN from the Hawaii Winter Baseball league.
I will watch it when I can and if any Pirates or Indians are playing,I will give a report.

Back later with the promised political post with anything new sports added!

Photo Credits
Lofton/Sizemore-Paul Sancya-AP Photo
Byrd-Al Behrman-Getty Images
Devils-Jim McIssac-Getty Images

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