Tribe Lead 2-0!

In the words of Humphrey Bogart: It seems that destiny has taken a hand.

Fausto Carmona pitched his guts out. So did Rafael Perez. Together they combined to toss 11 innings of 3 hit ball. That's the story of tonight's game, every bit as much as the swarm of gnats that descended upon Jacobs field sometime, and for some reason, in the middle innings.

But the bugs helped.

Give Joba Chamberlain credit. He didn't cave in. Even with gnats crawling over his neck and face, he coughed up but a single run. Andy Pettitte was just as gutsy, pitching out of jams inning after inning and surrendering not a thing. Carmona, though, aside from a hiccough of a hanging slider to Melky Cabrera, was even better. In all, he induced 19 Yankee hitters to ground out. His fastball was a buzzsaw and his sinker invisible. Still, until destiny intervened in the eighth inning, when Chamberlain uncorked a wild pitch that Grady Sizemore barely scored on, it appeared that this series would head back to the Bronx tied 1-1. After 11 bleeding-ulcer innings and one crucial act of god, Travis Hafner lined a game-winning single into center field. Ballgame. Indians win 2-1.

I can't take this.

Go Tribe.

nwb