ALCS Game 3 rail: Familiar faces at Jacobs Field
Sights and sounds
<p class="MsoNormal">- Cleveland singer Ashley Nemeh performed the national anthem. Al Roker of "The Today Show," a former TV weatherman in Cleveland, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Roker was in downtown Chicago on Monday morning for "The Today Show" before heading to his former home.
<p class="MsoNormal">- A smattering of boos greeted all of the Red Sox during pregame introductions, except for Manny Ramirez. Fans booed loudly at the ex-Indian.
<p class="MsoNormal">Ramirez, who has battered his former team, played his first postseason game at Jacobs Field since leaving the team after the 2000 season. Five of his MLB postseason-record 23 homers have come at Jacobs Field.
<p class="MsoNormal">- The warmest receptions for the Indians during the introductions were saved for C.C. Sabathia, Grady Sizemore and Kenny Lofton. Trot Nixon and Tom Mastny, two of Saturday's key performers, also got louder than normal ovations.
<p class="MsoNormal">- The game-time temperature at 7:10 p.m. was 69 degrees under clear blue skies with a sold-out crowd of 44,402 on hand.
<p class="MsoNormal">- Chants of "Ken-ny, Ken-ny, Ken-ny" filled the stadium as Lofton walked to the plate for his first at-bat in the second. All it took was one pitch for Lofton to turn the chants into one loud roar as he hammered a home run to right-center.
<p class="MsoNormal">- A mixture of cheers, laughter and even groans were heard in the fourth when Ramirez smashed a bouncer into teammate David Ortiz, who was nearly hit in a real bad spot as he ran between second and third. It ended up hitting him on the left thigh. Ortiz was ruled out. Ramirez was credited with a single. A potential Red Sox rally never got going.
<p class="MsoNormal">- Ramirez finally earned an ovation in the sixth -- when he bounced into an inning-ending double play.
<p class="MsoNormal">Play of the game
<p class="MsoNormal">The Red Sox looked ready to break through against Indians starter Jake Westbrook in the sixth. A one-out single by Kevin Youklis followed by a walk to Ortiz brought Ramirez to the plate with a chance to do serious damage.
<p class="MsoNormal">Those chances looked even better when Westbrook fell behind Ramirez 3-0.
<p class="MsoNormal">Westbrook battled back to run the count full. Ramirez then fouled a ball off before hitting into a routine, 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
<p class="MsoNormal">Star of the game
<p class="MsoNormal">Jake Westbrook, RHP: The Indians starter earned his first career postseason win, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing seven hits and two runs. He got the Red Sox to hit into three double plays.
<p class="MsoNormal">Stats: Fifteen of the 20 outs recorded by Westbrook came on ground balls.
<p class="MsoNormal">He said it: "I didn't say enough about our defense behind me tonight. ... It was fun to be a sinkerball pitcher tonight."
<p class="MsoNormal">Noteworthy: Monday's outing came after Westbrook was hit for six runs and nine hits in five innings during Game 4 of the ALDS against the Yankees.
<p class="MsoNormal">The Manager said it: "You always know you've got a good chance to have a good day with Jake putting the ball on the ground the way he was."