| | Records
Indians 97-65, first in Central; Red Sox 94-68, second in East.
How they got there
The Indians captured their fifth consecutive AL
Central title, putting together the only winning record in the
division. The Red Sox made the playoffs for the third time in five
years by finishing seven games ahead of Oakland in the wild-card race.
Probable starters
Game 1 -- Boston's Pedro Martinez (23-4, 2.07) vs. Cleveland's Bartolo Colon (18-5, 3.95)
Game 2 -- Boston's Bret Saberhagen (10-6, 2.95) vs. Cleveland's Charles Nagy (17-11, 4.95)
Game 3 -- Cleveland's Dave Burba (15-9, 4.25) vs. Boston's Ramon Martinez (2-1, 3.05)
Season series
The Red Sox won eight of 12, including two of three
in Cleveland on Sept. 13-15 to cap a 9-3 road trip that virtually
wrapped up the wild card. They won five of six at Jacobs Field, where
the Indians were 46-29 against everybody else. The Red Sox ravaged
Cleveland's rotation, which was 1-5 with a 7.44 ERA against them.
Boston SS Nomar Garciaparra hit .451 with five homers and 17 RBI
against the Indians. The Red Sox limited Indians RF Manny Ramirez to a
.222 average and three RBI in eight games, and LF David Justice to a
.190 average.
Key for the Red Sox
Pedro Martinez has been the emotional and
statistical leader for the Red Sox. He would start Game 5 if the
best-of-five series goes the limit. Martinez was 6-0 in his past seven
starts with a 0.82 ERA, allowing just 28 hits and eight walks, while
striking out 96, in 55 innings.
Key for the Indians
Bartolo Colon is only 24, and in only his
second full season, but he is the closest thing the Indians have to an
ace. That void has been exploited the past four postseasons, when the
Indians have gone 0-8 in first games. Colon was 7-1 in his past nine
starts but winless in four career starts against Martinez.
Series notes
The Indians are the first team to score 1,000 runs in a season
since the 1950 Red Sox and only the seventh all-time ... The Indians
are coming off three-game sweep by Toronto to conclude season ... The
Red Sox's 94-68 record is their best since 1986 (95-66) ... Boston had
only one .300 hitter (Garciaparra), but 12 position players on the
postseason roster hit higher than .270.
Compiled by Scripps Howard News Service
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