CLEVELAND - Thanks to Josh Beckett, the Red Sox have the chance to continue their uphill trek to the World Series back in Boston.

Beckett added to his growing October legend Thursday as the Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 7-1 in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The Indians still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, with Game 6 scheduled for Saturday night at Fenway Park.

Beckett took the Jacobs Field mound after country singer Danielle Peck, a former girlfriend, sang the national anthem.

He seemed unfazed by that and after the game said, "I don't get paid to make those (expletive) decisions. It doesn't bother me at all. Thanks for flying one of my friends to the game so she could watch it for free."

Beckett gets paid to pitch and was throwing 96 mph in the eighth, his final inning, as he struck out 11, walked one and allowed five hits. Only two came after the first when the Indians scored, and one was an infield hit.

"I thought he was up in the first inning," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "But once he settled down and established the breaking ball, he became the dominant pitcher that we rely on so much."

A 385-foot single by Manny Ramirez put Boston ahead 2-1 in the third and missed being a home run by inches. There was another oddity in the game - Beckett and Kenny Lofton shouting at each other, causing both benches and bullpens to empty.

The Indians haven't cinched a pennant or won a World Series title at home since Game 7 of the 1920 Series, when they beat the Brooklyn Robins 3-0 at League Park. The pitchers of record in that game are in the Hall of Fame - Stan Coveleski for Cleveland and Burleigh Grimes, a spitballer, for Brooklyn.

It's too early to predict whether Beckett, 27, who is 77-52 lifetime and 36-18 the past two seasons with Boston, will earn that pedigree. But he has established a reputation for performing in the postseason and kept the Red Sox alive in the series.

"This is not where we want to be, but we're inching closer to where we want to be," Beckett said. "Kind of the motto in the clubhouse right now is, 'It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees.' "

Beckett was the Most Valuable Player of the 2003 World Series with Florida. He's 3-0 in three starts in this postseason with a 1.17 ERA and one walk and 26 strikeouts in 23 innings. Lifetime in the postseason, Beckett is 5-2 with a 1.78 ERA in 65 2/3 innings.

None of Boston's three previous starters in this series made it through the fifth, but Beckett stepped up when needed most. Cleveland had scored first in the previous four games of the series, but Kevin Youkilis put the Red Sox ahead 1-0 when he homered on the fourth pitch from C.C. Sabathia, who is 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA in the series.

Beckett gave up his only run in the first, which Grady Sizemore opened with a bloop double. He took third on Asdrubal Cabrera's single and scored when Travis Hafner grounded into a double play.

The Red Sox scored a run in the third when David Ortiz walked with two out and came home on Ramirez's long single to right-center field. The ball hit on top of the yellow line above the wall and bounced back onto the field. A ground rule at Jacobs Field states the ball must clear the yellow line, and after the six umpires convened, the original call of single was upheld. The

dust-up between Lofton and Beckett came after Lofton dropped his bat on Beckett's 3-0 pitch and started for first only to be called back.

As soon as Lofton skied the next pitch to left field, Beckett began yelling at him. Lofton hollered back and jogged toward the mound on his way to the dugout, but matters never escalated beyond anything verbal.

"Nothing happened," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "Both teams ran out and looked at each other. Both teams ran back."

Beckett retired nine straight batters before giving up a two- out single in the fifth to Casey Blake, who scampered to third when Sizemore grounded a hit off the glove of shortstop Julio Lugo. But Beckett struck out overmatched Cabrera on three pitches.

"I felt good," Beckett said. "Like we always say, it's easy when you got everything going."

Boston	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Pedroia 2b	4	1	2	0	1	0	.250
Youkilis 1b	4	2	2	3	1	0	.421
DOrtiz dh	2	1	1	2	1	1	.400
MRamirez lf	4	0	2	1	1	2	.471
Ellsbury lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Lowell 3b	4	0	1	0	0	1	.250
Kielty rf	3	0	1	0	0	1	.400
JDrew rf	1	1	1	0	1	0	.313
Varitek c	4	0	1	0	0	0	.211
Crisp cf	5	1	0	0	0	2	.143
JLugo ss	4	1	1	0	0	1	.167
Totals	35	7	12	6	5	8
Cleveland	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Sizemore cf	4	1	2	0	0	1	.250
ACabrera 2b	4	0	1	0	0	2	.286
Hafner dh	4	0	0	0	0	2	.158
VMartinez c	4	0	1	0	0	1	.316
Garko 1b	4	0	1	0	0	2	.313
JhPeralta ss	4	0	0	0	0	1	.286
Lofton lf	3	0	0	0	1	0	.250
Gutierrez rf	3	0	0	0	1	1	.133
Blake 3b	3	0	1	0	0	2	.316
Totals	33	1	6	0	2	12
Boston ......101	000	230	-	7	12	1
Cleveland ......100	000	000	-	1	6	1

E - Beckett (1), RPerez (1). LOB - Boston 10, Cleveland 7. 2B - Pedroia (1), MRamirez (1), JDrew (1), Sizemore (2), Garko (1). 3B - Youkilis (1). HR - Youkilis (2), off Sabathia. RBI - Youkilis 3 (4), DOrtiz 2 (3), MRamirez (8). SF - DOrtiz 2. GIDP - Youkilis, JLugo, Hafner. Runners left in scoring position - Boston 4 (MRamirez, Kielty 2, Crisp); Cleveland 2 (ACabrera, Gutierrez). Runners moved up - Varitek, JhPeralta. DP - Boston 1 (JLugo and Youkilis); Cleveland 2 (Sabathia, JhPeralta and Garko), (JhPeralta and Garko).

Boston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Beckett W, 2-0	8	5	1	1	1	11	1.93
Papelbon	1	1	0	0	1	1	0.00
Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Sabathia L, 0-2	6	10	4	4	2	6	10.45
RBetancourt	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.00
RPerez	1-3	1	3	1	1	0	40.50
Mastny	12-3	1	0	0	2	1	0.00

Number of pitches - Boston, Beckett 109, Papelbon 22. Cleveland, Sabathia 112, RBetancourt 11, RPerez 13, Mastny 29. Sabathia pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored - RBetancourt 1-1, Mastny 3-3. HBP - by Sabathia (Lowell), by Sabathia (Varitek). WP - Sabathia. PB - VMartinez. Umpires - Home, Gary Cederstrom; First, Dana DeMuth; Second, Randy Marsh; Third, Kerwin Danley; Left, Brian Gorman; Right, Paul Emmel. T - 3:46. A - 44,588 (43,415).

etkinj@RockyMountainNews.com Red Sox 7, Indians 1

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