Top of the First

Pedroia leads off this game with a postseason average of .188. He must give the Sox something closer to his AL Rookie secondbaseman average of .317.
In profile, Joe Buck looks remarkably like his father.
A note about audio procedure in the Baseball Cave: I listen to Joe Castiglione on WRKO with the sound down on Fox. When Joe gives way to Lucchino's joke from San Diego, I turn the computer down and turn up the TV. We then revert when Castiglione reclaims the mike.
Sabathia's postseason era: 16.62! I'd gladly take half of that tonight.
It is remarkably warm in Cleveland for October 18: 72 at game time.
Sabathia threw strike one to Pedroia; that'll be key tonight.
A bad swing at the second pitch, grounded to short.
Ball one to Youk. He homers on the second pitch.
That's the good of first pitch strikes, and the bad of first pitch balls, all in two batters.
First pitch strike to Papi. He strikes out on three pitches, rung up on the third by Kerwin Danley.
First pitch strike to Manny. Three out of four now. A 1-1 double for Ramirez. Man, he just hits! He just tied Pete Rose for longest hitting streak (15 games) in LCS history.
Lowell sees strike one. Four out of five for Sabathia. Mike singles to right on the 0-1 and DeMarlo Hale loses his mind and sends Manny, out from Memphis to Knoxville.
Sabathia ends the inning down a run, but he only threw 12 pitches and 10 of them were strikes, including first pitch strikes to four of the five batters he faced. Not ideal, but a good start.