Nothing makes the Cliche-O-Matic sputter and squeak like a Game Seven in the playoffs. Back to the wall. No tomorrow. Do or die. Now or never. All true, of course. So tonight, the Indians and the Red Sox will live the cliches. The Red Sox, of course, lived to fight another day on a supremely gutsy performance by Curt Schilling. Seven innings pitched, six hits, two runs, a thunderous ovation as he left the field......

Sox fans, the request has been made of you: dig out your reddest of red and wear it proud today. The Sox brass hit the television news airwaves on Friday and asked you to show the Red Sox that you're behind them - and show the Indians that in order to get to the World Series, Cleveland is going to have to get past our team AND our fans on our turf. Fans have added......

First, the really great news: Josh Beckett managed to make C.C. Sabathia look like a Little League pitcher (no offense to some of those who are the future of America's pastime) on Friday night at Fenway Park, ably leading the Red Sox defense in what turned into a 10-3 routing in Game 1 of the ALCS. Seriously, we were a little worried about what hinted at a pitching fan's dream matchup - two great aces......

Four years ago today, Josh Beckett threw a shutout. In the LCS. Good tidings? Last time Josh faced the Indians, he gave up one run and four hits in a hard-luck 1-0 loss to Fausto Carmona. Last time Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia pitched against the Red Sox, he gave up one run and five hits in a hard-luck 1-0 loss to Daisuke Matsuzaka. You'd have to believe both pitchers are determined not to give up......

There will be no Ultimate Battle of Good Vs. Evil this year. Evil couldn't get past the first round. Ten men left on base, a useless home run from Alex Rodriguez (bet it will be bold-formatted on the resume), and a miserable start from Chien-Ming Wang had the Yankees calling for tee times by the fifth inning. For Yankee-haters, the fun starts now. Joe Torre has already been given the Dread Pirate Roberts treatment by......

It looks like just might be a higher power looking down on the MLB postseason. He/She/It is a Red Sox fan and, judging from the sight of Derek Jeter slapping like mad at the bugs descending upon him at the Jake on Friday night, any higher powers out there have a wicked sense of humor. On a Friday night that gave us fire (well, on the T here in Boston), locusts cleverly passed off as......

Our familiarity with German legends is admittedly not what it's supposed to be, but we are familiar with the tale of Faust, the medieval alchemist who made a deal with the devil to acquire riches and earthly pleasures. The tale's already been updated and retold once in a baseball context, in Damn Yankees. Now, we're not suggesting that Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona has made his own deal with the devil, but there's certainly circumstantial evidence.......