ALCS Game 1

There was a capacity crowd of 43,000+ in Jacobs Field, eager to see their local favorites take on the hated Yankees. After Nap Lajoie threw out the first pitch, the tension mounted. The '39 Yanks offered Bump Hadley (14-8), who had thrown a no-hitter on his first start of the regular season. the '95 Indians responded with Dennis Martinez (13-8), pride of Nicaragua.

For 2 innings, the pitchers traded zeros. New York had the pressure on in the 2nd, but Martinez worked out of the jam with help from Albert Belle's perfect throw cutting down Bill Dickey at the plate. In the bottom of the 3rd, Cleveland broke through, Eddie Murray driving in 2 with a bases loaded single. This was followed by a Jim Thome double driving in 2 more. Manny Ramirez' 2-run home run punctuated the inning, with Hadley hitting the showers before the third inning ended.

Orel Hildebrand's relief was not particularly effective, as he gave up 7 more runs over the next three innings, including home runs to Carlos Baerga and Eddy Murray. Meanwhile, Dennis Martinez cruised, only giving up a solo home run to Red Rolfe. Relief from Julian Tavarez and Paul Assenmacher finished off the Yankees. The final score was a dominating 13-2 decision for Cleveland.

Murray, Thome, and Baerga all finished with 3 hits, while Manny scored 3 runs. New York tries again tomorrow (or perhaps "tomorrow") with Red Ruffing (16-12, 3.19), while Cleveland sends Orel Hershiser (13-8, 3.43) to the hill.

Notes: I never liked Eddie Murray as a player. Don't know why. He was on my rotisserie league team back in '87, though. The Yanks have to win this with pitching-- they just don't have the bats to go toe to toe with this Cleveland team...

Here's the probably unreadable boxscore: