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The matchup: C.C. Sabathia against Chien-Ming Wang, each team's best pitcher. Wang's struggled on the road, and Sabathia hasn't been dominated by the Yankees since 2004. That's because he hasn't faced them since then, so throw those numbers that appear to favor the Yankees out the window.

This is Bronx Cheer's second live blog of the year and its first since Opening Day. Its record is 1-0, and that's with Carl Pavano starting.

Pregame: Looks like this game is starting on TNT. This is a far cry from the days of the games on FOX ABC Family, which plenty of people don't get. Great job by baseball to watch out for its fans on that one.

TNT will have to interrupt a Law and Order repeat. Elisabeth Rohm gets cut off midsentence. Tragic.

Our announcers for tonight: Chip Caray on play-by-play along with Tony Gwynn and Bob Brenly on color. Gwynn was originally scheduled to call this game alone, but TBS brought in the grizzled Brenly to help out.

Early problem for TBS/TNT: Sound isn't coordinated with the broadcasters' mouths. That shouldn't be noticeable during the game.

Plenty of others have made this observation, but would it kill DHL to update its Kenny Lofton trading deadline commercial? He did end up in Cleveland, not one of the 15 other cities mentioned in the commercial. An insert shot of a label? One more voiceover line? Too much to ask?

Top of the first: Ah, the classic 6:37 p.m. ET start time. Keeps you from staying up to the wee hours to watch the end of the game. It also could keep you from seeing the beginning of the game if having to go to work in the morning makes you need to get to bed before the wee hours. Tradeoffs.

Johnny Damon digs in, and Bruce Froemming, who might balance out Indians starter C.C. Sabathia on a scale, is calling balls and strikes. This is his last season, and he's lost his umpiring fastball. Got to love TBS' full-page graphics -- that's, right two of them! -- for the umpires.

On a 3-1 count, Damon hits one that looks like a home run down the right-field line. Not according to Jim Wolf, who is promptly overruled by every other umpire on the field. Indians manager Eric Wedge comes out for the obligatory post-reversed call discussion. Great start for the Yanks.

Jeter pops out to second as TBS digs up a replay of the Damon homer. With the shadows at Jacobs Field, it's tough to see the ball on TV. Great to see blog favorite Chris Britton is still with the team despite not being on the roster.

Caray and Co. debate the merits of instant replay while Bobby Abreu walks. That brings up Alex Rodriguez, who had a good season, it's said. Would it kill TBS to put up on-base percentage on its graphics?

Rodriguez walks on a full-count after being down 1-2. That brings in Craig Sager for some sideline reporting. With him and David Aldridge appearing on baseball games in the same day, should they be scheduling a 76ers-Cavaliers game after this one? By the way, that's 25 pitches for Sabathia.

Brenly throws some nice praise Posada's way, though he probably went too far in calling him one of the most sure-handed catchers in the game. With a 2-1 count, TNT decides it's time for more Law and Order. Back to TBS. Posada strikes out on a high fastball. Sabathia still looks wild.

But he recovers to get Hideki Matsui to hit his trademark groundball to second. The Yankees only got one run, but they made Sabathia, who is a horse, throw 33 pitches.

Bottom first: Wang hits Sizemore with the first pitch. At least the pitch was down. Asdrubal -- awesome name -- Cabrera grounds into the 6-3 double play. Catching the ball at first was Doug Mientkiewicz, who had some difficulty with a cameraman before the game. Don't worry, it wasn't a Scuffy Kenny Rogers incident.

Hafner walks. Good thing the Yankees' defense is well-known, because the defensive graphics are unreadable. Victor Martinez singles, and Wang's in his first jam. The drum makes its first appearance.

Ryan Garko singles to center, just past Robinson Cano at second. Tie game. This is where Wang's inability to strike people out hurts him. He had two strikes on Hafner and Martinez, and each reached base. Wang gets another two-strike count on Jhonny Peralta and walks him after three foul balls on a full count. Kenny Lofton singles to center, scoring two runs, and Melky Cabrera throws out Garko trying to go to third, saving Wang from future damage. Wang goes from two outs and no one on to two three runs in, and he didn't even get the third out himself. Not a promising sign.

Top second: Cano leads off the second with a four-pitch walk, so Sabathia's control isn't back yet. TBS makes good use of a microphone on Froemming during his explanation of the Damon homer to Wedge. The umpire calls the manager "Wedgie." Cabrera follows that with a terrible at-bat, swinging at two balls and popping the second one up to first. Mientkiewicz pops up to short, but only after Caray points out that he's only hit into three double plays this season. He doesn't point out that Minky only had 166 at-bats. Cano runs on a 1-2 pitch and his dead by 10 feet. He must have gotten a terrible jump, because that was a slider in the dirt. Damon gets a fresh count in the third.

Bottom second: The replay shows an awesome throw by Martinez to nail Cano. Franklin Gutierrez pops out to third. Confident Indians fans do their best Boston impression by chanting, "Yankees suck!" That's nice. Wang earns his first strikeout by whiffing Casey Blake. Two outs, no one on, just like the first. Sizemore reaches base by singling through the first-base hole with, you guessed it, two strikes! Sizemore is then gunned down by Posada. Wang has thrown 41 pitches and hasn't looked great. The Yankees will need more than four runs to win this game.

Top third: Sabathia gets Damon to strike out on a fastball, a pitch that was a little better than the one Damon hit out. Jeter then looks awful on a fastball inside. Sabathia's shaken out the cobwebs. Abreu works what John Sterling would call "an Abreuan at-bat" by walking after falling behind 1-2. Of course, that doesn't count as an at-bat but as a plate appearance. Rodriguez then pops out to shortstop on a fastball up and in, still the best place to get him out. Sabathia's thrown 68 pitches but looks like he could give the Indians six quality innings.

Bottom third: Wang gives up a two-strike homer to Cabrera, then works around a bloop single. He doesn't look right at all.

Top fourth: Two quick outs has the TBS team singing Sabathia's praises. A line-drive homer by Cano has them recanting a bit. Melky Cabrera follows it up by popping out to Asdrubal Cabrera to end the inning. Asdrubal didn't remember how many outs there were. Sabathia pitch count: 80. Last three innings: 47.

Bottom fourth: You don't need TBS' utterly useless pitch trax to tell you that Froemming's strike zone is all over the place. It's like that line from Barry Pepper, playing Roger Maris in 61*. "You're up, you're down, be consistent!" Maybe Froemming isn't sure what he's feeling today.

If only turning it around was as easy as pitching coach Ron Guidry said he made it seem to Chien-Ming Wang. The Gator adds a nice touch by saying, "You're quite welcome," when Caray thanks him for stopping by. Wang walks Gutierrez and then gets the benefit of Froemming's strike zone by getting Sizemore on a high strike three call. He also had the benefit of a nifty pickup by Rodriguez at third for the second out. He's doing his best, but he doesn't have his best stuff. When he's off, he's just plain hittable.

Top fifth: Shelley Duncan comes off the bench to hit for Mientkiewicz. Unless Minky is hurt from before or Wang is coming out soon, it didn't make sense to start the defensive specialist only to pinch-hit for him in the fifth inning. Duncan ends a quality at-bat by lining a single to right field. Then Damon walks. Caray and Co. think Jeter should bunt the runners over. Everyone else thinks they are crazy. Jeter should almost never bunt, especially with a pitcher struggling so much. Caray defends this by saying it's a National League type move. Jeter and the Yankees don't have a NL lineup, and it doesn't make sense in the Senior Circuit either. Jeter ends the controversy by flying out to right. The God of Postseason is 0-for-3.

Bobby Abreu comes through with a cue-shot double down the third-base line. Duncan flies comes around third to score. Rodriguez is then intentionally walked, and wisely so. Posada is up next and is a great double-play candidate.

Caray keeps praising Posada's season based on 20 homers and 99 RBIs. What about his real value -- a .426 on-base percentage and a .543 slugging percentage? None of that helped him here as he strikes out. Hideki Matsui gets a 2-0 count, then swings at a high fastball and pops out. Terrible job. Sabathia's probably done, having thrown 114 pitches through five innings. The Yankees have had remarkable plate discipline, except when it mattered most in the fifth inning. They wasted a golden chance to tie the game or take the lead and let Sabathia off the hook for the second time. Let's see if it comes back to haunt them.

Bottom fifth: The Indians want to make it haunt the Yankees. Victor Martinez homered after a walk to Asdrubal Cabrera and a flyout from Travis Hafner. He hit the bomb while Sager was interviewing that drummer in right field. Then Peralta blooped a double down the right-field line, and Lofton singled one past Jeter for a 7-3 lead. Ross Ohelndorf is probably coming into this game. Wang's outing was as bad as could be, and the Yankees are in a huge hole.

Ohlendorf wasn't much help. He walked Gutierrez and then gave up a double to Blake, making it 9-3. Again, Caray revisits the nonbunt by Jeter, saying the momentum could have turned if the Yankees had tied the game? Did he forget the Yankees ended up with second and third and one out -- the same thing they would have had if Jeter had successfully bunted -- and still didn't score? Does he think Wang would have suddenly discovered his stuff with the score 4-4 instead of 4-3? Also, points off for not mentioning that Ohelndorf went to Princeton. Or maybe that happened during the three-minute audio snafu suffered by TBS where the crowd drowned out the announcers.

Top sixth: Cleveland goes to Rafael Perez, their best lefty reliever. He's also good against righties, so Wedge thinks he can get through the bottom of the Yankees lineup. Caray points out how much better the Indians' bullpen has been this year, then lays most of the credit at the feet of Joe Borowski, saying the veteran has been "magnificent." Borowski has given up nine homers in 65 innings and has a 5.07 ERA. Meanwhile, Perez strikes out two during a 1-2-3 inning. Melky Cabrera has looked awful at the plate in September and now in this game. If someone gets benched, he might be the guy. Matsui's ability to play the field could help shape that decision.

Bottom sixth: Ohlendorf didn't cover himself in glory in that outing. Hafner homered, Martinez doubled, and after a hit batter, Lofton threw in another double. Ohlendorf leaves having allowed three runs and responsible for Lofton on second base. Jose Veras closes the door. Don't look for Ohlendorf again in this series.

Top seventh: Wedge stays with Perez for the seventh inning even with an eight-run lead. TBS has shown plenty of shots of Andy Pettitte in the dugout, and he will be in a pressure-packed situation during Friday's Game 2. Rafael Perez adds two more strikeouts in another 1-2-3 inning. He threw 31 pitches.

Bottom seventh: Phil Hughes is next out of the Yankees' bullpen. Is that really necessary? Some were holding out hope that Hughes would start Game 4, if the series gets that far. Caray and Co. say the Yankees should want to get their pitchers' feet wet, but they should be more concerned about hiding them from the Indians and throwing out the mopup guys. At this point, Veras could go another inning and then Kyle Farnsworth could pitch the eighth. Since the Yankees planned this blowout to be on the road, they don't have to worry about a ninth-inning pitcher. How prescient. Hughes looks awesome. Too bad he's not starting Game 4.

Top eighth: Jensen Lewis on for the Indians, and he works a 1-2-3. The only suspense left in this game was whether the Cubs/Diamonbadcks would begin on TBS or TNT. The answer? TNT. Get ready for en masse channel change in about three minutes. If the Yankees lose Friday, it won't be due to exertion in the final innings. The last 11 men have been retired.

Bottom eighth: Hughes continues to increase Yankees fans' rage when Mussina starts and gets bombed in Game 4. Caray and Co. start joking about Martinez's chances at a cycle -- he needs a triple -- in what must seem more amusing to Indians fans. Caray looks up that Brenly had seven triples in his career but somehow cannot track down Borowski's numbers. Hughes gives up a home run to Garko to take the luster off his outing but then gets out of the inning.

Top ninth: "Wedgie" turns to Rafael Betancourt, his best reliever. Either he doesn't feel a nine-run lead is safe, or he wants to get him some work to shake out the rust. Either way, the Yankees get a free look at the talented righty. He gets three free outs as the Yankees drop the package off at the post office and finish mailing it in. Thirteen straight went down before Jason Giambi, hitting for Duncan, singles to right. This series isn't over, but the Yankees need to take advantage of walks and get a dominant performance from Pettitte tomorrow. They'll probably have Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera available for the final three innings.