Timely hitting wasn't to be found at crunch time

Tribe closer Bob Wickman said he hasn't decided whether he'll return.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CLEVELAND -- The timely hitting that helped propel the pitching-dominant Indians into playoff contention disappeared when it was needed most.
After consistent offensive contributions for much of August and September, the Tribe's unheralded, low-budget batters discovered just how tough the final week of the regular season can be.
Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox (99-63) saw the Tribe (93-69) miss the postseason by two games.
How to avoid it
"We've been through so many ups and downs through the course of the season [that] you really can't blame it all on the last week," said Indians pitcher Scott Elarton after suffering the final loss. "If we had won a few more games at the beginning, we wouldn't have been in this situation."
Instead, the Indians found themselves in a wild final week of the regular season that saw four teams battling for three playoff berths.
Woeful hitting during last week's 1-5 homestand cost them their first postseason berth in four years.
"Maybe [we] put too much pressure on [ourselves], but that's something that you've got to learn," said center fielder Grady Sizemore after batting 1-for-4 against White Sox pitchers Brandon McCarthy, Luis Vizcaino and Orlando Hernandez. "You have to take what the game gives you."
The one player to come through in the clutch on Sunday was catcher Victor Martinez. His sixth-inning double scored Travis Hafner from second base for the Tribe's only run.
"It's disappointing that we came so close and didn't make it," Martinez said. "But we'll keep our heads up and come back next year."
Looking back
Martinez had the hottest bat in the majors after the All-Star break, batting .382 (100-for-262) with 19 doubles, 11 homers and 45 RBIs.
It wasn't enough as the Indians went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners.
Hafner was the only batter to get two hits in the most important game of the season.
Trailing 1-0 in the first inning, Sizemore walked and reached third on Hafner's two-out single. But Martinez lined out to left fielder Scott Podsednik to start a frustrating trend.
The Indians had a baserunner in every inning except the fourth.
Behind 3-0 in the fifth inning, frustrations began to mount after the Indians wasted Aaron Boone's lead-off single. With two outs, Crisp doubled down the right-field line, but Jhonny Peralta's flyout kept the Indians scoreless.
Back-to-back doubles by Hafner and Martinez in the sixth inning produced a run and prompted White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to lift McCarthy after 102 pitches.
Defensive support
With the help of a double play, Vizcaino and Hernandez retired 11 of the Indians' final 14 batters to preserve McCarthy's win.
"Everyone was trying hard," Sizemore said. "Everybody in this locker room was probably trying to win the game every time they came up to the plate. That's what you expect out of team that's fighting for a playoff spot and anyone who says he wasn't trying to get a hit to win the game is a liar."
Since June 5, the Indians went 68-40 to ascend from middle-of-the road status to contender.
It wasn't quite enough.
Looking ahead, Tribe closer Bob Wickman said he hasn't decided whether he'll return in 2006, saying he'll make a decision before the World Series ends later this month.
Wickman pitched the ninth inning and lowered his earned run average to 2.47. He has 124 career saves, second on the club's all-time list.