Kenny Lofton says his teammates had been ribbing him for not hitting a home run yet in the postseason. In the second inning, he came through.
Kenny Lofton: Two days ago I told Garko, 'I keep missing them; I don't know what's going on,' and I said one day I'm going to square one up and it's going to go out and it happened today.
While Lofton finally found his home run, pitcher Jake Westbrook did a better job keeping Boston at bay than favorites C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, who both disappointed at Fenway Park in games one and two.
Indians Manager Eric Wedge praised Westbrook's performance. Wedge said control was key in this game.
Eric Wedge: It was a good baseball game. It was close. You needed to make pitches, you needed to make plays.
Jacobs Field was packed with Tribe-fever. While officials expected Red Sox fans to fill at least a quarter of the seats, Boston fan A.J. Scully said he was surprised by how few fellow members of the Red Sox nation were out in force. With a Red Sox World Series win in recent memory, his attitude toward this series is sure to please Indians fans.
A.J. Scully: I died and went to heaven like the rest of us, so if we're going to lose to somebody, I'm okay with losing to the Tribe.
Mutual hatred of the Yankees goes a long way.