Few thoughts on Game Four vs. the Yankees:

1) Well … let's be blunt. Most of us are fully expecting the Yankees to beat up on Paul Byrd tonight and send this series back to Cleveland for Game Five. And if that happens, it sets up a fascinating pitching matchup between C.C. Sabathia and Andy Pettitte.

2) Like to be Eric Wedge? Pitch Byrd and everyone rips you for not starting Sabathia on short rest. Start Sabathia and he gets lit up and eveyrone rips him for bringing the team's ace back too soon. Kind of a no-win position.

3) The outcry for Sabathia to start almost seems like the clasic "from the outside" view. Pitching Sabathia really goes against every ounce of conventional wisdom with starting pitchers. There are overwhelming stats that show pitchers do not do well on three days rest in the playoffs. And the numbers are not close. This is where the team knows the players best. The team is together 24/7 for the entire season, then in come all these experts with a typewriter from the outside world for the playoffs and they decide they know better. In this case, Wedge has to trust his instincts — and his logic.

4) I mean, let's ask this: Does anyone out there think that Wedge would start Byrd if he really believed Sabathia gave his team the best chance to win? I don't think he's doing this in a vacum.

5) Indians made some silly plays Sunday night. Victor Martinez should have taken the sure out at first on that three-foot dribbler; instead he threw to third and got no outs. Jhonny Peralta had a couple hits, but also had a bad throw to first that started a Yankees inning. Jake Westbrook got a pitch up to Johnny Damon. And who knows what Trot Nixon was doing on that single that went under his glove to clear the bases. Not good. Just can't do that many silly things in a playoff clincher.

6) This is the worry with Westbrook and Byrd: They simply can't afford mistakes. A mistake by those guys goes over the fence. A mistake by Sabathia or Carmona might not. This is the difference between a good pitcher and a great one.

7) A great career might have ended when Roger Clemens left the mound in the third inning. Not really the way Clemens wanted to go out, with a sore hamstring and his catcher telling the manager to get him out. But then again, Clemens had one glorius retirement sendoff a few years ago and he keeps coming back and coming back and coming back. It has to end sometime.

Joe Torre is 67 and has taken the Yankees to the playoffs 12 years. The guy loves managing, but you wonder why he might not just give it up after this season and beat his owner to the punch.

9) If Byrd goes five innings tonight the Indians would be thrilled. Then the Jensen Lewis-Rafael Perez-Rafael Betancourt-Joe Borowski bullpen quartet could take over. Hey … a guy can dream, can't he?

Yes, the Boss was pretty irate over the fact that his team, the New York Yankees, had to play with all the bugs buzzing in the Indians Game Two win. The Boss — not Bruce Springsteen — apparently thought the game should have been delayed.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner told the Bergen Record that Bruce Froemming, the umpire crew chief, was full of a nasty substance, then added: "He won't umpire our games anymore." Not that he makes that decision.

Steinbrenner even called commissioner Bud Selig to complain. "[Selig] just said, 'That's in the umpires' hands,' " Steinbrenner told the Record. "But … it was terrible. It messed up the whole team, [Derek] Jeter, all of them."

To this day, nobody has explained why the bugs only bugged the Yankees and the Indians — and pitcher Fausto Carmona — were able to play through the disctaction.

Here are some of the comments of Bruce Froemming, the crew chief for the umpires in the Indians win in Game Two of the ALDS. Froemming was asked by a pool reporter about the bugs that descended in the eighth inning.

Q. Did you consider stopping the game at any point?

A. No, because it was a little irritation. We've had bugs before. I've seen bugs and mosquitos since I startd umpiring. It might not be a perfect scenario. Within about 45 minutes, basically, they were gone. And they had the spray and everything. There was just about a 10-minute period there where everybody was lathering up. But no, I never considered it.

Q. Does Major League Baseball have any specific procedures or instructions for this type of thing?

A. We have a weather bug, but that's not related. You have to use common sense. I've got five partners and myself. Not anybody, including both managers, nobody fussed about it. We just put the stuff on and let's play. It's like a rain situation, almost. Except a little more irritating, that's all.

Q. Did you feel that either the pitcher or the hitter was at a disadvantage?

A. I think they were all irritated. The umpres and the players and the managers, everybody that was on the field was swatting the bugs off and everything. They eventually went away and nobody said a word. They came out with the stuff and sprayed their players. I didn't see what Cleveland did, but they must have taken care of it before they came out.

Q. So neither the pitcher nor the hitter seemed to be at a disadvantage?

A. No. Not at all.

Q. Do you have any previous experiences similar to this?

A. The only other experience that comes close to it would be in Cincinnati, years ago. We had a bee problem by the dugout. They had to get a beekeeper to move this swarm of bees, and they did it.

Andy Pettitte has frustrated the Indians through six. The sixth inning represented Cleveland's best chance to tie the game as Grady Sizemore led off with a triple.
But Asdrubal Cabrera — with the infield back — grounded back to Pettitte on the first pitch. Had he hit the ball anywhere else, the tieing run likely scores.
The Indians followed with their three-four hitters, but Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez both struck out swinging at Pettitte sliders.
Ouch.

It's the fourth inning and the Indians bats have yet to wake up. Jhonny Peralta was thrown out at home in the second inning by 10 feet. Jason Michaels was stranded at third in the third. Travis Hafner was at second with one out in the fourth, but went no farther.
This is what the Yankees wanted from Andy Pettitte, who has started 35 postseason games and three previous ALDS Game Twos following Yankees first-game losses. In those three games, Pettite had a 1.98 ERA.
Pettite might not get deep into the game, though, so the Indians best hope if they keep stranding runners might be to take advantage of the Yankees bullpen.

Fans at Jacobs Field apparently noticed James' hat.
A loud roar went up from the boisterous crowd when the scoreboard showed a gentleman holding a sign that read: "Lebron, it's not too late to change your hat."
Touche.

In the seventh inning the Indians led the Yankees 9-3 and LeBron James was still in the house.
But he wasn't wearing his Yankees hat anymore.
Hmmm.
After Travis Hafner homered to make it 10-3, James left, carrying his Yankees hat.
Apparently it was time to call it a night.

Seated about six or seven rows behind home plate at the Indians-Yankees AL Division Series game was LeBron James. We assume you've heard of him.
James was wearing a Yankees hat.
That prompted some boos from the crowd.
James has said he's been a Yankees fan his whole life and he would root for the Indians if they were playing anyone but the Yankees, just like he'd root for the Browns if they were playing anyone but the Cowboys.
Whatever.

Amazingly beautiful night at Jacobs Field for the start of the American League Division Series.
The Indians seem like a relaxed, easygoing group. But the Yankees have already had the goofy injury of the series. Apparently first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz tripped over a cameraman as he got off the Yankees bus.
Mientkiewicz did start.
Fans seemed subdued, but ready.
The best sign s

Sizemore is hotter than A-Rod.