Before I get into some of the scenery a little more than eight hours before tonight’s first pitch, I’ll give you my thoughts on what will happen in Game 5:
I believe the Indians will win. I believe it will be a very close game tonight. I believe the Sox will play better than they did the first two games. But this is a big home field advantage playing this game in Cleveland.
I didn’t realize how starved the people of Cleveland are for a champion. The lead story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a very good newspaper I might add, is a column by Terry Pluto. He pulls no punches in his first paragraph:
Don’t let the series go back to Boston. Don’t think about doing later what you can do right here, right now.
Win the American League pennant, tonight, at Jacobs Field.
That didn’t seem like a suggestion. It was an order.
Apparently, Red Sox fans weren’t the only cursed group. Considering the The Fumble (Earnest Byner), The Drive (John Elway) and The Shot (Michael Jordan), all failures, are among their most recent, memorable playoff experiences, all ending misery.
Pluto went on:
Let’s watch this Tribe create its own legacy, on that we’d love to tell our kids and grandchildren about — without weeping!
You get the point. There are two ways of looking at that. That’s too much pressure or it will be empowering.
If the Red Sox didn’t have the holes they have in their lineup, I would probably give them edge. But this appears to be the Indians time. They are the team making the big plays while the Sox have, for some reason, gone quiet.
What do you think?
I will be updating this blog throughout the day and night.
I’ll be available to answer any questions or comments.
