How quickly a series can change.
After only a few innings of Sunday's Game 3 of the American League Division Series, the Cleveland Indians looked poised to finally return to the ALCS. They were leading the New York Yankees 3-0, and starter Roger Clemens had left injured.
In addition, the pressure seemed to be all on New York, especially after owner George Steinbrenner said this about Manager Joe Torre in an interview: "His job is on the line,"Steinbrenner was quoted in Sunday's editions of The Record of New Jersey. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."
Yet thanks to some stellar relief from Philip Hughes and their bats awakening, New York rallied from that 3-0 deficit to defeat the Indians 8-4 in Game 3.
Which brings us to tonight's Game 4, which may not be good news for Cleveland and starting pitcher Paul Byrd. Instead of bringing ace C.C. Sabathia back on three days' rest, Indians manager Eric Wedge is staring Byrd tonight against the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang.
Byrd (15-8, 4.59 ERA) made 12 starts this past season against teams that finished with winning records and posted a 3-5 mark with four no-decisions and a 6.10 ERA, and he was 2-3 and 5.21 ERA in September overall. He also made one start against the Yankees, yielding seven runs on seven hits over two innings. He had the second-worst K/9 rate in the AL among pitchers with 160 IP (4.19)
"We're going to move forward just as we had planned. Byrdie will be on the mound [Monday], and we'll go from there," Wedge said of Byrd, who is 0-3 with a 6.86 ERA in his past four starts against the Yankees. "You know, it's where we are. We knew we were going to need four starters if it went that far here in the series, and that's where we're at. That's what we're going to go with."
"We have a lot of confidence in Byrdie," Sabathia said. "He's a veteran who has been here before, and pitched great all season. He deserves the chance to close this out."Sabathia threw 114 pitches in five innings in Game 1, and he has pitched on three days' rest but once in his career, perhaps making Wedge's decision easier.
"I've wanted to pitch," Byrd said. "I would have been happy if we swept, but it didn't happen. So, I'm excited to take the ball for Game 4."
Wang (19-7, 3.70 ERA) will be staring on three days' rest for the first time. The right-hander was pounded for eight runs, nine hits and four walks in just 4 2-3 innings of a 12-3 loss in Game 1 on Thursday.
He was 10-4 with a 2.75 ERA at home in 2007 and hasn't lost consecutive starts since April 24 and 29, his first two starts of the season
"I'm not afraid of Wang pitching against Cleveland again," Torre said. "You know, you win 19 games in this league, you certainly earn it. I'm certainly not going to shy away from him pitching again."
A win for the Yankees will send the series back to Cleveland's Jacobs Field for a decisive Game 5 on Wednesday. An Indians victory will send them to Boston for the opening of the AL Championship Series on Friday night against the Red Sox.
"Any club that's in the postseason certainly is capable of winning three games in a row," Torre said.
The lowdown: New York is the big -225 WagerWeb.com money line favorite tonight, and the pitching matchup seems too one-sided here. Plus, you know the Yankees' players want to keep their season alive to save their manager's job. This series goes to a Game 5.
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