2007 American League Division Series 2

2007 American League Division Series

Cleveland Indians 96 - 66 in the AL	3 - 1 Series Summary	New York Yankees 94 - 68 in the AL

2007 MLB Postseason
LG	Division Series	League Champ.	World Series
AL	BOS - LAA	BOS - CLE	BOS - COL
AL	CLE - NYY	BOS - CLE

NL	ARI - CHC	ARI - COL
NL	PHI - COL	ARI - COL
<< 2006		2008 >>

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Indians: Eric Wedge | New York: Joe Torre

Indians

Yankees

Umpires[edit]

Bruce Froemming, Laz Diaz, Ron Kulpa, Fieldin Culbreth, Gerry Davis, Jim Wolf

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	New York Yankees 3 at Cleveland Indians 12	October 4	Chien-Ming Wang (0-1) vs. C.C. Sabathia (1-0)	6:30 p.m.
2	New York Yankees 1 at Cleveland Indians 2	October 5	Andy Pettitte (ND) vs. Fausto Carmona (ND)	5:00 p.m.
3	Cleveland Indians 4 at New York Yankees 8	October 7	Jake Westbrook (0-1) vs. Roger Clemens (ND)	6:30 p.m.
4	Cleveland Indians 6 at New York Yankees 4	October 8*	Paul Byrd (1-0) vs. Chien-Ming Wang (0-2)	7:30 p.m.

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ Jacobs Field[edit]

Thursday, October 4th - Cleveland, OH - 6:37 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Yankees	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	5	0
Indians	3	0	1	0	5	2	0	1	X	12	14	0
WP: C.C. Sabathia (1-0), LP: Chien-Ming Wang (0-1)
Home Runs: NYY - Johnny Damon (1), Robinson Canó (1); CLE - Asdrubal Cabrera (1), Víctor Martínez (1), Travis Hafner (1), Ryan Garko (1)

Attendance: 44,608

Game 2 @ Jacobs Field[edit]

Friday, October 5th - Cleveland, OH - 5:07 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Yankees	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0
Indians	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	9	1
WP: Rafael Perez (1-0) , LP: Luis Vizcaino (0-1)
Home Runs: NYY - Melky Cabrera (1)

Attendance: 44,732

Game 3 @ Yankee Stadium[edit]

Sunday, October 7th - New York, NY - 6:37 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	9	1
Yankees	0	0	1	0	4	3	0	0	X	8	11	1
WP: Philip Hughes (1-0) , LP: Jake Westbrook (0-1)
Home Runs: CLE - Trot Nixon (1); NYY - Johnny Damon (2)

Attendance: 56,358

The Yankees staved off elimination at Yankee Stadium in spite of a poor performance from 45-year-old starter Roger Clemens. The "Rocket", who had pitched only one game in September because of a hamstring injury, was facing Cleveland's Jake Westbrook. Clemens was in trouble from the start, yielding an RBI single to Ryan Garko in the 1st inning and a solo home run to Trot Nixon in the 2nd. He walked Travis Hafner and struck out Victor Martinez to start the 3rd, but was removed by manager Joe Torre, as his hamstring was obviously bothering him. Rookie Philip Hughes came on in relief and allowed a third run to score on a hit by Jhonny Peralta, but was stingy thereafter, pitching in all 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. Hughes yielded the mound to fellow rookie Joba Chamberlain in the 7th, who gave up a single run in the 8th on a double by Nixon.

This excellent performance by the Yankee bullpen allowed the offense to bring the team back into the game. Johnny Damon had an RBI single in the 3rd, but the inning ended when Derek Jeter grounded into a double play, the third consecutive inning Cleveland had executed a twin killing. New York got to Westbrook in the 5th with hits by Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera that added a second run. Damon followed with a home run to right which put the Yankees ahead, 5-3. They put the game out of reach in the next inning, when Cano hit a bases-loaded single off Aaron Fultz which Nixon overran, clearing the bases. Hughes received credit for the victory as the series was the only one of four Division Series in 2007 not to end in a sweep.

Game 4 @ Yankee Stadium[edit]

Monday, October 8th - New York, NY - 7:30 pm EDT TBS

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians	2	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	13	0
Yankees	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	4	12	0
WP: Paul Byrd (1-0) , LP: Chien-Ming Wang (0-2), SV: Joe Borowski (1)
Home Runs: CLE - Grady Sizemore (1); NYY - Robinson Cano (2), Alex Rodriguez (1), Bobby Abreu (1)

Attendance: 56,315

Cleveland eliminated the New York Yankees with a 6-4 victory in Game 4. Facing a desperate situation, Yankees manager Joe Torre decided to use his Game 1 starter, Chien-Ming Wang on short rest rather than veteran Mike Mussina, whose poor performance down the stretch had cost him his place in the team's starting rotation. For his part, Indians manager Eric Wedge used his fourth starter, veteran Paul Byrd, keeping his ace, C.C. Sabathia, in case the series went to the limit. It was clear very quickly that Wang was not in good form that evening. The first batter he faced, Grady Sizemore, homered on the third pitch of the game. The Indians added a second run that inning, then chased Wang from the game with no one out in the 2nd inning, when he plunked Kelly Shoppach with a pitch to load the bases. Mussina came in to pitch and induced Sizemore to hit into a double play. But Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a single, and the Indians were up, 4-0.

The demoralized Yankees managed a run in the bottom of the 2nd, on a bases-loaded infield single by Derek Jeter, but Byrd cruised along for five innings allowing only that one run and twice striking out Alex Rodriguez on three pitches. In the meantime, Cleveland added two runs in the 4th on a single by Victor Martinez after Travis Hafner had been intentionally walked to load the bases. With Cleveland leading, 6-1, Robinson Cano hit a solo home run in the 6th and New York then put two men on base against Rafael Perez, but Jeter hit into an inning-ending double play that deflated New York's best chance to get back in the game. The Yankees showed a bit more life in the late innings, when Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu hit solo home runs in the 7th and 9th, but the cause was already lost. Joe Borowski finished the 9th inning with no further damage to earn the save and put the Indians into the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox. Newspaper headlines the next day were full of speculation about whether this was Joe Torre's last game as manager in the Bronx, given the team's failure to return to the World Series in spite of its massive payroll.