Is it time to panic?

Why, yes! Yes it is!

I'm depressed this morning. I am shocked at the results of the game last night - especially how we (and how Boston) looked.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much out of game 5. Steve and I - before big games - have a phone call where we give our predictions. Before game 5, he said 4-1 Boston (almost getting it right before the bullpen explosion) and I said 4-3 Boston.

Well, last night Steve said 6-1 Cleveland and I said 6-4 Tribe (with a Borowski-induced near heart attack). Needless to say, we were way off last night.

Schilling clearly did not have his stuff, yet that doesn't really matter when you are down 10-1 in the 3rd. Cleveland doesn't look scared, but they do look young and inexperienced. The errors. The "mailing it in" cloud seem to hover over this team when Drew hit the grand slam.
Now questions are arising on this team:
- Travis Hafner, please pick up the white courtesy phone
- Asdrubal (or Ashtabula) Cabrera is starting to come back to earth
- Perez, of course

And Boston? Well, when Lugo is starting to get 2-run doubles, then you know they are heating up.

While I never - honestly! This is the truth - while I never thought the series was over at 3-1, I thought we'd play well in the following games and at least have a fighting chance at winning games 5 and 6. But no. That's 2 striaght blowouts. I truly am shocked.

How do we turn it around? One inning, one at-bat, one pitch at a time. That's a lesson from golf. You make an effort to make your next shot a good one. It's very, very tough to forget about the past - but yet we somehow have to do that. One batter, one pitch at a time. We have the talent - now we have to execute.

I have no idea how Wedge will use the pen here in game 7. You could guess he would have a short hook, but then who? Say it is 4-3 Boston in the 4th. Now what? Byrd? Lewis? Betancourt? Sabathia? I think if trouble arises in innings 2-3, Byrd will come in. If it is 4 or later, we can start with Lewis for 2, then Betancourt for 2 - that will get us to the 8th, and then we will see where we are. To answer Jay's questions - I think that's why Borowski came in last ngiht. To save Betancourt and Lewis for longer outings today, if needed.

But now, in a game 7, it seems the better bullpen is on Boston's side. Say today is an implosion of a game for both sides: it is 6-6 after 3. Who has the advantage:
Boston: with Lester, Beckett, Wakefield, Okajima, and DelCarmen?
Cleveland: with Byrd (Laffey out), Sabathia, Lewis, Betancourt?

The long relief in my mind favors Boston. That's why Jake has to go 5 or 6 innings tonight.........and I don't like the chances of that.