We had it from the start

Well, that might be a sliight strretttch!

How about this.

All's well that starts well!

When Grady Sizemore led off that first inning with a dinger you could feel it. The panic in me, born of so many what-iffs, seemed to fade at least a little bit.

Chien-Ming Wang wasn't on his game and that was good news for the Tribe who bounced him early and went on to take the ALDS from the Yankees 3 games to 1.

OK. Once again. A big man admits he was wrong, and I am a big man- in more ways than one.

Eric Wedge was right about Paul Byrd. He wasn't pretty (in any sense of the word). But he kept the Yankees from turning home plate into a subway turnstile- as I was afraid migh happen. The basepaths looked like Grand Central Station at rush hour. But the fact that very few of those "commuters" made it home is a testament to Byrd's grittiness. When all was said and done he went 5-plus innings, gave up 8 hits and 2 walks, but only 2 runs. He left with the Tribe in the lead 6-2. The homer he left on appeared to be a decent pitch that Robbie Cano went down nearly to his ankles to get.

So is Byrd a candidate for series MVP in your mind? He came up big in a tough spot - made tougher by naysayers like yours truly.

But Fausto Carmona was probably bigger in a spot that was at least as key as tonight - putting the Tribe in the series driver's seat by winning game 2.

What about CC? He got things off to a good start without his very best stuff and an umpire with no strike zone.

How about someone in the bullpen? Raffie Perez, who was lights out and did his work in some very key spots? (We'll ignore tonight's non lethal A-Bomb). Or Raffie Betancourt and Jensen Lewis who answered duty's call as well? JoBo got the only save he was called on to get (though I really don't know about nominating him).

Maybe the bullpen as a whole should be MVP. But then there's the Aaron Fultz fly in that ointment.

What about one of the everyday players.

Kenny Lofton provided spark and life and leadership, not to mention lots of hits, early in the series as the Indians took the first two,

Grady Sizemore certainly was MVP of game four and maybe game two as well. He might have scored the biggest run of the series with his scamper that ended by beating the tag of a "bugged" Joba Chamberlain at the plate.

Asdrubal Cabrera had his rookie-like game in game two, but otherwise was in the middle of quite a bit of the offensive mahem created by the Tribe.

The same can be said of Jhonny Peralta, who had a boatload of hits.

Victor had some big hits with runners in scoring position, including tonight's two cushion runs - numbers 5 and 6.

Ryan Garko wasn't in the game-four lineup, but he sure did hit in the first three games and played first base well throughout.

Travis Hafner had the game-winning hit in game two and a was a presence at the plate throughout.

What is becoming apparent here is that you could pick almost any one of the guys I just mentioned and no one would tell you you're crazy.

I guess what I'm getting at is this team did it the way they did it all year long, with everyone doing their part in a great TEAM effort.

The alarm clock goes off for me at 4:40 a.m. so I have to go for now. I'll have a celebratory post and recap tomorrow after work. Thanks for checking in throughout this series and stay with us for the ALCS. If there are any typos I'll clean 'em in the morning.

For all my fellow Tribe fans living in Yankeeland, here's a little inside joke.

BALL GAME OVER! THE AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES OVER!

THE INDIANS WIN!!!!! THUUUUUUUUUU INNNNDIIIIAAAAANS WIIIIIIN!!!!!!