Uh-oh. The Red Sox aren’t going away.
You had to figure the Indians were hosed when the series returned to Fenway. On the one hand, they’ve never lost a postseason series to a team from Boston — they swept the Red Sox in three games in ‘95 and beat the Braves in six in the ‘48 World Series. On the other, the Indians historically haven’t had a lot of success in New England.
Game 7 starts at 5 p.m. PT on Sunday. Jake Westbrook and Daisuke Matsuzaka hook up in one final game to determine which of these teams advances to the …read more

Hey, everybody, they’re still playing games. The ALCS shifts to Cleveland, where Daisuke Matsuzaka faces Jake Westbrook at 4 p.m. PT. The general strategy for Boston is to keep the ball out of Eric Gagne’s hands, specifically his right hand.
And in the evening game, Colorado looks to complete the sweep at Coors Field. Rookie Micah Owings starts for Arizona, while Franklin Morales gets the call for God’s team. First pitch is at 7 p.m. PT.
Sounds exciting, huh?

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks and Rockies for completing their series sweeps on Saturday. The NL West is now 6-0 in the postseason, if you’re scoring at home.
Meanwhile, we’ve got two AL teams looking for the sweep on Sunday:

Red Sox at Angels, noon PT — The situation is looking bleak for the team that slaps “Anaheim” at the end of its awkward name. Jered Weaver and Curt Schilling hook up in this one. The Angels desperately need to find a way to contain David Ortiz. Yeah, good luck with that. Also, they need to start hitting. Did I mention it’s looking …read more

There really aren’t any good pitching matchups on Sunday. Probably the best are Boof Bonser vs Jered Weaver at Anaheim (11:05 a.m. PT), and Jake Peavy vs Bronson Arroyo at Cincinnati (10:15 a.m. PT). If you like offense, might I suggest Jeff Weaver vs John Danks at Chicago (11:05 a.m. PT), or Claudio Vargas vs Woody Williams at Houston (11:05 a.m. PT).
Looking for games with the biggest playoff implications? Try the Yankees at Indians (Andy Pettitte vs Jake Westbrook, 10:05 a.m. PT), or Braves at Phillies (Buddy Carlyle vs Jamie Moyer, 5:05 p.m. PT).
Enjoy…

The Cleveland Indians have signed right-hander Jake Westbrook to a 3-year extension worth a reported $33 million. The 29-year-old Westbrook is basically a Jon Garland clone — durable, reliable, unspectacular.
It’s interesting in light of the Padres’ recent signing of Chris Young to note the tradeoffs a team will make between consistency and excellence. Here’s a quick look at how Young and Westbrook have fared since the former first reached the big leagues in August 2004:

Jake Westbrook vs Chris Young, August 2004 – October 2006

 
DOB
Yr
$M
GS
IP
ERA
H/9
HR/9
BB/9
SO/9

Westbrook
9/29/77
3
33
74
477
4.13
9.75
0.70
2.32
4.87

Young
5/25/79
4
14.5
69
380.1
3.93
7.86
1.28
2.93
7.76

Stats courtesy of Baseball Musings Day by Day Database.

 
Young is 20 months younger and a more dominant …read more