Indians Eliminate Giants

Cleveland (AP) - The Cleveland Indians advanced to the Semi-Finals with a convincing 4 games to 1 win in their playoff series. In the series opener, Mark Prior outdueled Livan Hernandez as the Indians won 4-2. Manny Ramirez had three hits which included a homer and a double to account for most of the Cleveland offense. In Game 2, Esteban Loaiza fired a complete game and Jim Thome picked up where Ramirez left off with his first homer of the series as he drove home three runs in a 10-4 Cleveland win. Barry Bonds hit his first homer of the series for San Fran.

The series moved to San Francisco for game three and the Giants rewarded their faithful with a 8-3 win behind the strong pitching of Russ Ortiz. Ortiz also contributed with his bat by driving in three runs. Cleveland took a commanding 3-1 series lead by winning game 4 by a whopping 16-5 score. Ramirez and Thome, who carried Cleveland all season offensively, drove in six runs between them. In the final game of the series, Jim Thome (who else?!) singled home Kenny Lofton in the top of the 10th inning to give the Indians a 4-3 victory.

Cleveland advances and will play the winner of the Florida-Arizona playoff series.