JACOBS FIELD Indians must win today and hope Yankees do, too

By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- The last time the Indians saw any sunshine this season, it shone directly into Grady Sizemore's eyes and started a week-long slump.
A dark winter could be next.
The Tribe fell to the White Sox 4-3 on Saturday at Jacobs Field for their fifth one-run loss in the past six games.
A season that seemed so promising a week ago has now come to this: The Indians must win today and hope the Yankees beat Boston to force a one-game playoff for the wild card on Monday at Fenway Park.
"If we take something into tomorrow's game, I hope it's that we'll all be loose," Indians outfielder Casey Blake said. "There's no sense being tight. You've got to let it go and have fun."
Of course, the only way to have fun is to win and the only way to win is to somehow stop this week-long slump.
The slide started last Sunday when Sizemore lost a ball in the sun in the ninth, allowing the winning run to score in a 5-4 loss to the Royals.
Before that game, Cleveland had won 17 of 19 games and were within 11/2 games of the White Sox in the division standings.
They've won one game since.
Not hitting in clutch
"We just can't get going," said Blake, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored on Saturday. "We can't come up with the big hit for whatever reason. I can't explain it."
Even more frustrating was the fact that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has made little effort to win. He rested seven starters on Friday and gave his ace, Mark Buehrle, an early hook.
Saturday, he rested four starters and lifted pitcher Jon Garland after just six innings. With home field advantage wrapped up, Guillen seemed more interested in keeping his team sharp than winning games.
They won both anyway, improving to 9-0 against the Indians in one-run games and 13-5 overall.
"We're right on the fringe of winning these games," said first baseman Ben Broussard, who was hitless in four at-bats. "We know we're not getting it done."
Added Indians manager Eric Wedge, "This year, for whatever reason, things haven't gone well against Chicago."
Hit broke slump
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning on a single by Blake that scored Ronnie Belliard. The hit broke an 0-for-25 slump by Indians hitters with runners in scoring position.
But things fell apart in the seventh when Indians starter Jake Westbrook (15-15) gave up four runs on an RBI single by Pablo Ozuna and a three-run homer by Tadahito Iguchi.
"It was a sinker down in the zone and I thought it was a decent pitch; he just put a good swing on it," Westbrook said of the home run pitch to Iguchi. "I went with my best pitch and didn't get it done.
"He just beat me."
The Indians scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh when Boone snapped an 0-for-14 skid with an RBI single to score Victor Martinez and Blake followed with an RBI double.
Cleveland had a chance to win it in the eighth when it loaded the bases with one out, but Belliard and Broussard both flied out to end the inning. Cleveland is 22-36 in one-run games this year (the losses are a club record), while Chicago is an MLB best 35-19.
Similar teams
"This team and the '99 Reds are very similar," said Boone, who played on both. "We've both lost a lot of one-run games. It's frustrating."
(The 1999 Reds, by the way, won 96 games but lost to the Mets 5-0 in a one-game playoff.)
New York clinched the American League East title with Saturday's win over the Red Sox and will likely rest its starters today. That doesn't bode well for the Indians, who need the Yankees to beat Boston to have any hope of the postseason.
"It'd be something if we won the [one-game] playoff and then went on to win the whole thing," Blake said.
It'd be something else if the Indians miss out, a thought no one wanted to think about on Saturday.
"We just have to focus on winning our final game," Wedge said. "Hopefully, it won't be our final game."
scalzo@vindy.com
CHICAGOCLEVELAND
abrhbiabrhbi
TPerez rf5010Szmore cf5000
Iguchi 2b4113Crisp lf4000
Gload lf3010JhPlta ss4020
Knerko 1b4020Hafner dh4010
BrAdrs lf0000VMrtnz c2100
CEvrtt dh4000Blliard 2b4120
Rwand cf2110Brssrd 1b4000
Przyns c4010Boone 3b4111
Blum ss4120Blake rf4022
Ozuna 3b4111
Totals344104Totals35383
Chicago000000400--4
Cleveland000010200--3
E--TPerez (4), Ozuna (9). DP--Cleveland 3. LOB--Chicago 6, Cleveland 7. 2B--Konerko (24), THafner (41), Belliard (36), Blake (32). HR--Iguchi (15).
IPHRERBBSO
Chicago
Garland W,18-106 2-342215
LVizcaino021100
Marte2-320012
Politte2-300000
Jenks S,6100001
Cleveland
Wstbrk L,15-15794412
Howry210012
LVizcaino pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. HBP--by Westbrook (Rowand). Umpires--Home, Tim Welke; First, Gary Cederstrom; Second, Bill Welke; Third, Brian O'Nora. T--2:48. A--41,026.