ALCS GAME 1 - Indians 8, White Sox 5

ALCS: '58 Indians (1) vs '74 White Sox (2)
GAMES 1-2 - Cleveland Municipal Stadium
 In fitting fashion the top 2 seeds in the AL were set to face off for the pennant and the rights to face the '51 Braves in the World Series.  Both teams tapped their respective aces (Wilbur Wood - CHW & Cal McLish - CLE) for the opener.  After a scoreless inning and a half the top seeded Tribe broke the ice with a solo run in the 2nd with a Minnie Minoso solo homer.  This would be the opening salvo for Minoso who had a banner day on the big stage.  The Cuban born star would go 4 for 4 on the day with 2 doubles, a homer and a 2 run single.  To call him "el muchaco" would be an understatement.  The Indians would do extensive damage to Wood's cause in the bottom of the 3rd when they touched him for 3 big runs to make it 4-0.  Young Roger Maris hit a solo shot to lead off the inning and after Pete Ward  singled "The Rock", Rocky Colavito hit a tape measure 2 run shot.  To their credit the Chisox didn't pack it in.  Solo runs in 3 consecutive innings cut the Tribe's lead to 1.  Bill Melton hit a solo shot in the 5th, Ken Henderson walked with the bases loaded in the 6th and Jorge Orta singled home Bucky Dent in the 7th to account for those runs.  The bottom of the 7th would see the Tribe answer back with 3 runs of their own to go back up by 4 again.  Pete Ward and Minnie Minoso had RBI singles.  Minoso knocked in 2 with his hump backed liner to center.  The  Chisox still weren't going to surrender and made it interesting in the 8th by posting 2 runs and cutting the deficit to 2 on the back of Bill Melton's second homer of the day.  Minoso's final hit of his 4 for 4 day was an RBI single in the bottom of the 8th.  It would give the Tribe the 3 run margin that they would finish with.  Hoyt Wilhelm came on for the final 5 outs to nail down the save.  The Chisox used 5 guys out of the pen in hopes of slowing down Cleveland's offense.