It looked like the Cleveland Indians were destined to lose due to bad luck and missed opportunities against the New York Yankees this evening at Jacobs Field. The Tribe had to call out a secret weapon that has been part of Indians baseball throughout the decades: The "Canadian Soldiers" (or Mayfly's) who fly off Lake Erie in late September and early October each year. The combination of a rattled Joba Chamberlain, Grady Sizemore's speed, and the pesky insects were enough to give the Indians a tie game against the Yankees who looked assured of the victory after 8 and half innings of play.

The Yankees scored their only run against Indians starter Fausto Carmona who surrendered a solo home run in the third inning against Melky Cabrera. Other than that lone mistake in Carmona's 9 innings of work, the 19 game regular season winner dominated the Yankees lineup with his power sinker and allowed only two other hits in the ballgame. The Indians, meanwhile, threatened on many occasions against the Yankees veteran Andy Pettite who worked out of jams and was masterful when it counted most against the Cleveland lineup. The Indians stranded runners all evening long and missed a home run by a matter of inches off the bat of Jhonny Peralta . It looked as if it just wasn't the Tribes night. Nobody knew that Cleveland had a brigade of the Canadian Soldiers on the way who would pester Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain that led to him hitting Grady Sizemore and follow that up with two wild pitches which led Sizemore to score from third base.

The Indians 9th Inning would uneventful against the Yankees legendary closer Mariano Rivera who retired the Indians in order. The Indians would bring on left-hander Rafael Perez in the 10th who would also make the Yankees go down in 1-2-3. The Yankees, who's biggest weakness is pitching depth, would again turn to Rivera for the 10th inning and face the top of the Indians order. Sizemore, the innings first batter in the inning, battled Rivera in a 13 pitch at-bat that would end with a strike out and a wild play at first base as he took the base after a delay running to first base. The Indians now had their opportunity to get their fastest player over to second base with a sacrifice bunt and Asdrubal Cabrera and did so setting up the Indians big boppers in Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez. Hafner would ground out against Rivera making it the second out of the inning and also getting Sizemore to third base. The Yankees took the bat out Martinez's hand by giving him an intentional walk and opted to face Cleveland first baseman Ryan Garko. Garko would get a hit by a pitch and load the bases full of Indians for Jhonny Peralta. Peralta would have his chance to secure a spot in Indians history with a base hit or walk but would strike out against the Yankees legend.

The bad news was obvious after the Indians ruined a golden opportunity in the 10th inning but the good news for the Tribe is that we were much deeper in the back end of the bullpen. The offensive oriented Yankees who had already used their top two fireman. The Indians would again turn to Perez who worked the 11th with ease against the Bronx Bombers.

Luis Vizcaino, who posted numbers of only 4.30 ERA and had allowed 109 base runners in only 75 innings of work, came in for New York to work the 11th for the Yankees. Vizcaino wouldn't waste any time getting himself in trouble as he walked veteran speedster Kenny Lofton to start the bottom of the 11th. Franklin Gutierrez could not get a bunt down against Vizcaino. It may have been the best thing for the Tribe as Gutierrez instead singled to left field setting up the inning with 2 men on and none out against New York. That brought up Casey Blake who did manage to lay down a perfect bunt for Cleveland. The Yankees would walk Grady Sizemore to load the bases. Asdrubal Cabrera, who jump started the Indians season when he entered the lineup in early August, now had the chance to the hero for the championship starved city. Cabrera, however, would weakly pop out. That would bring up Indians DH Travis Hafner. The big power hitter wouldn't let the 44,000 fans in attendance down. On a 3-2 count, Hafner brought euphoria to the crowd with a single to right center that won the hard fought game 2-1.