Dragnet Deliverance: Indians at Sox

Well folks, this is it. Like it or not, an entire baseball season comes down to one night for the two teams that shared the best regular season record.

This window shot was mighty lucky last night. Let’s see if it does the trick again for Game 7, eh?

For two historic baseball cities, tonight will be the difference between a trip to the World Series and an offseason made a little longer, and much tougher. While the Red Sox enter the game on a two-win surge, the Indians are reeling. Their twin aces - C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona - were both knocked around. Their No. 4 pitcher - Paul Byrd - is suddenly under investigation for HGH. Their closer - Joe Borowski - gave up hits and runs in last night’s blowout.

What does Cleveland have going for it? Jake Westbrook. The team’s No. 3 starter tossed a gem in their key Game 3 win, forcing Boston batters to drive liners into the ground and using a fantastic sinker ball to do exactly what Daisuke Matsuzaka couldn’t for the Sox: Get through six innings.

Really, that’s the $103 million question in tonight’s Game 7: Will Dice-K show up and be the pitcher Boston and Red Sox fans are ready to believe he is? Matsuzaka built up a resume worth $100 million by weaving magic throughout Japanese postseasons at all levels. He was brought to Boston to shore up a pitching staff and evolve into a true ace.

So far, he hasn’t quite done it. Matusuzaka’s Game 3 was good enough to possibly earn a win, but as with so many of his season starts, he found himself in trouble early, and then again later. By the second time Cleveland started racking up baserunners, Terry Francona couldn’t sit by anymore, pulling the Japanese ace for Manny Delcamen.

After the game Matsuzaka was inconsolable in the locker room. Days later he was telling the Japanese press that he wanted revenge. He gets that chance tonight, and with a little help from some Boston batters, it could make for the season’s best night yet. Or it could be the worst.

That’s up to Dice-K.

– Cameron Smith, Globe photo