By Dave Sheinin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 20, 2007

BOSTON, Oct. 19 -- Neither the Boston Red Sox nor the Cleveland Indians are fully satisfied with the performances of their respective offenses during the American League Championship Series. But while the Red Sox may be contemplating a major lineup change for Saturday night's Game 6, it appears the Cleveland Indians are not.

The Red Sox' problem is at the bottom of the lineup, where No. 8 hitter Coco Crisp (.143, no RBI) and No. 9 hitter Julio Lugo (.167, no RBI) have provided virtually no production. One possible remedy would be to play rookie Jacoby Ellsbury in center field in place of Crisp, with Ellsbury batting leadoff and rookie Dustin Pedroia dropping to the No. 2 slot.

Ellsbury, a speedster who batted leadoff 13 times for the Red Sox down the stretch, is often credited with providing a spark when he's in the lineup.

"We don't have a lineup yet," Red Sox Manager Terry Francona said Friday. Pressed further about Crisp's struggles, he said: "He's really having a tough time, I agree. He's gotten himself into some things mechanically where he's not been able to make some adjustments."

As for the Indians, Manager Eric Wedge shot down a question about whether he is considering dropping designated hitter Travis Hafner from his customary No. 3 spot in the order. Hafner is hitless with seven strikeouts in his last 11 at-bats in the series, and is hitting .158 in the five games.

"I think what we need him to do is just to simplify things a little bit," Wedge said. "When it comes to the postseason . . . everything prior to today doesn't mean anything."

Left fielder Manny Ramirez will make his first appearance at Fenway Park on Saturday since his much-discussed comments about the series on Wednesday, when he implied it didn't matter whether the Red Sox won or lost because "it's not like it's the end of the world."

Ramirez's teammates said Red Sox fans understood he was not being dismissive of the importance, and predicted he would be received as warmly as ever by the home fans.

"In New England, when you say that, it's almost life and death," third baseman Mike Lowell said. "It's like, 'How can you take this so lightly?' But I think all the Boston fans know his personality, and it's not far-fetched for him to say something like that. . . . He cares. He wants to win. He's just saying we're not going to war if we lose a baseball game."

"Everybody knows what Manny means," designated hitter David Ortiz said. "But people [in the media] like to flip things around. . . . The guy is playing ball the way we want him to play, and I think we should appreciate it."

Representatives of both teams played down the effect of Thursday night's mini-confrontation between Red Sox ace Josh Beckett and Indians left fielder Kenny Lofton, which led to a benches-clearing stare-down, and predicted no carryover of bad blood.

"There was some verbiage back and forth, and they toed up a little bit," Wedge said. "And everybody ran out and got some exercise, and everybody ran back. But nothing really happened."

While the Red Sox flew back to Boston immediately following Game 5, the Indians stayed in Cleveland overnight and flew to Boston on Friday. When Wedge was asked why the team hadn't packed for a possible flight to Boston on Thursday night, he said, "We weren't going to the ballpark expecting to lose."