Indians, Red Sox split
The devil fools with the best laid plans-Neil Young

This was a series where I really thought homefield was meaningless. After the first two games, I still feel that way. There's little question the Indians needed to split this series.

But my reasoning was the Indians needed to win one of the first two games because they were throwing their two best starters early. If C.C Sabathia and Fausto Carmona can't get wins, I thought, what chance do the Indians have in this series.

As it happened, the two aces were awful. If we're to believe the hype, Mr. Bloodsock, Curt Schilling is tough in the postseason. And yet, as bad as Fausto was, Schilling was worse.

Rafael Perez was bad, surrendering homers to Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell. The Indians were down 6-5, and I thought the game was over.

But before Manny was even done tipping his cap to the adoring Boston fans, the Indians tied up the game.

And then the bullpen took over. Jensen Lewis and Rafael Betancourt made Boston hitters look lost. Tom Mastny (I didn't even know he was on the postseason roster until last night)was perfect.

The Red Sox finally ran out of gas in the 11th. I think every Indians fan was smiling when Eric Gagne came in. He was incinsistent last night, and has been poor ever since showing up from Texas.

It was as if the Indians decided they had enough of the Red Sox. Trot Nixon made all of us doubters look stupid, Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta (a playoff MVP so far)had RBI hits, and Franklin Gutierrez finally came through, by hitting one off the Volvo sign.

What does this mean? Well, here's what I know:

- The Indians will need better starting pitching than they've gotten to win this series.

- The Indians may have the edge in managers, something I never thought I'd write.

- Jake Westbrook can ease a lot of tension will a good start Monday. Westbrook can pitch like an ace. The Tribe may need that.